Hawke’s Bay contemporary artist Annabel Morgan prepares for first exhibition

Hawke's Bay artist Annabel Morgan and the surfboards she painted.

Hawke’s Bay contemporary artist Annabel Morgan may only have just turned 22, but she is determined to make painting her vocation.

Speaking to her, you immediately pick up on her passion and enthusiasm for her art.

Fresh from completing her Bachelor of Fine Arts, majoring in painting, at the Ilam School of Fine Arts at the University of Canterbury, she has secured her first solo exhibition.

It will be held at the HB Community Arts Centre in Hastings from March 31 to April 12.

Having been a lifeguard at Waimarama beach in Hawke’s Bay for many years, her inspiration for her painting and photography comes from the sea.

Annabel Morgan developed her photography skills as a surf lifesaver.

“The beach is my happy place”, Morgan said.

In fact, her love of photography came from many hours at surf lifesaving competitions alongside her brother who also competed.

She filled in time between competitions by taking photos of him among the waves.

“I always had my camera with me, looking for that special shot.”

Hawke's Bay artist Annabel Morgan loves photographing the ocean.

She was also inspired by her favourite painters, Lilia Orlova-Holmes and Ian Rayer-Smith of the UK, and ocean photographer Ben Thouard from the south of France.

Morgan’s paintings are large (1.5m x 1.2m) as well as bright, contemporary, and abstract. She has been working hard to develop her own style.

She always paints in oils as she finds the speed in which acrylic dries does not suit her.

She creates movement in her work, which often represents the sea and its moods. Blue is her clear preferred colour of choice.

At high school she focussed on photography and graphic design, with painting more of an afterthought. She was not sure which direction she wanted to head when she started university.

In her first-year painting class in 2021 she created her first-ever abstract work titled Ocean Pollution.

Hawke's Bay artist Annabel Morgan's 2021 work, Ocean Pollution.

This piece was the deciding work for the School of Fine Arts to put her in the second-year painting major class.

Over the next three years, she continued to develop her abstract style.

Her exhibition will be a collection of paintings and photographs she has been working on for the past year.

Always looking for something different, Morgan managed to buy three surfboards that she has painted in her style.

Hawke's Bay artist Annabel Morgan and the surfboards she painted.

Next up for the art treatment will be knee boards that were about to be discarded from the surf lifesaving club.

She has been working tirelessly getting them up to a paintable standard.

During the day she works at a local surf and skate shop and in the evenings, it is not unusual for her to paint late into the night in preparation for her exhibition.

Morgan paints at home in a barn that formerly housed her mother’s horse float. It is now a space where she feels happy, relaxed, and able to let her artistic flare take over.

Annabel Morgan's first solo exhibition will be held at HB Community Arts Centre in Hastings from March 31 to April 12.

“You need to push yourself when you are an artist as it is up to you to make it work.”

Morgan, who has the extra pressure of having ADHD and being dyslexic, comes across as nothing but positive.

She is determined to use the early years of her career to get her name out there in the art scene.

“The Hawke’s Bay art scene is excellent here, people really appreciate artists, and I get so much encouragement.”

While being a fulltime painter is her real dream, she would also like to get involved in the art field in some way and eventually would love to be a gallery curator – still with time to paint of course.

Having one of her paintings hanging in one of the local B&Bs would just be the icing on the cake.