Exhibition Among Friends will be presented at the Pie Factory gallery in Margate this month.

“Among Friends” is an exhibition of paintings by three women who met as strangers and became supportive artist friends.

The trio, Louise Hynes, Deborah Isabella Gilbert and Sian Morgan, recognized that they had more in common than just being local women wanting to make art. Their shared love for the coast of Thanet and Margate in particular, an affinity with the sea and the sky and a thoughtful approach to painting that inspires them helped them to feel “among friends” for this exhibition. Although their styles are distinct, their philosophy is the same.

Louise is a mostly self-taught painter, although she spent a year at the Boston University School of Fine Arts. After raising a family and a career in real estate and interior design, she decided it was time to follow her true passion and returned to painting.

She works in acrylic, oil and other mediums to create paintings of the ever-changing local sea and sky, as well as certain landscapes. A fascination with faces means portraiture takes an equal place and she was honored to have been asked to paint thirteen portraits for NHS Heroes at the height of the pandemic.

Her work has been featured in two issues of the art industry magazine Artist Talk. Two paintings were shortlisted for the Visual Arts Associations Open competition in fall 2021 and one painting was chosen for the Turner Contemporary Open exhibition. The same painting was shortlisted for the Turner Fringe Prize in 2019, judged by Tracey Emin.

Deborah works primarily with acrylic paint, which she likes to use because it dries quickly, allowing her to create light, translucent glaze layers.

A glaze is a single coat of paint thin enough to let the colors underneath show through. Each new layer increases the color depth and changes what it is painted on. This usually results in a more expressive and natural image.

His distinctive paintings capture the cool light and colors of the sea and sky in a semi-abstract manner. They range from huge canvases for maximum impact to tiny paintings and sizes in between.

Sian Morgan, from Margate, studied at Medway College of Art and later earned an HND in Exhibition and Museum Design at the Hull School of Art.

Sian has a love and affinity with Thanet’s history, architecture and beautiful coastline. She regularly exhibits and sells in local galleries. She paints watercolors of seashells from local beaches and other subjects, all inspired by where she lives.

Among Friends is in theaters March 24-30.

Pie Factory Gallery, 5 Broad Street, Margate.