Painter, born in St Albans, Hertfordshire, was married for a time to the artist Jeffery Camp. She studied at Camberwell School of Art, 1958–62, then Slade School of Fine Art, 1963–5, having received a Leverhulme Travel Scholarship to Italy in the intervening year. In the 1960s and 1970s showed frequently with Young Contemporaries and with LG, having the first of several solo shows at Piccadilly Gallery in 1968. Also showed Serpentine Gallery in 1979 and Air Gallery in 1984. There was a retrospective at Piers Feetham Gallery in 2002. She was elected a member of LG in 1970 and won a prize four years later in John Moores Exhibition, Liverpool. Yhap lived for many years in Hastings, Sussex, and based much of her work on its beach and fishermen.