After winning the Artists & Illustrators Award
at the Pastel Society’s 2020 show, MARGARET
LARLHAM tells REBECCA BRADBURY about
her arresting pastels and artistic rituals
Y
ou can almost sense the ominous, grey clouds
rolling in, casting a moody shadow over the
desert-like terrain. It’s a skyscape JMW Turner
would be proud of, as a splash of resplendent blue still
lingers above candyfloss clouds in the distance despite
the threat of a downpour edging ever closer. And privy to
it all is a steady stream of water carving its way through
the dusty scrub below, playing back the show of shifting
light and kaleidoscopic hues with its own metallic glint.
There’s an untameable, rugged beauty as well as
a striking luminosity to Margaret Larlham’s painting
Solitude III, something that can be said of all the
award-winning artist’s pastel landscapes.
Another familiar feature is the subject itself: epic
desert scenes in which life thrives against all odds and
mountaintops touch the sky. It’s the sort of scenery that
surrounded the artist during her childhood in rural South
Africa, and which has left a lasting impression, becoming
something of a leitmotif throughout her entire life. “The
rock, the mountains, the bush, the thorns, the hardiness
of it all – it feeds my soul,” she explains. “So, when I see
echoes of that in other parts of the world, I get excited.”
In 1986, Margaret moved to San Diego, California, not
far from Mission Trails, a regional park stretching across
more than 7,000 acres of canyons and hills. Every morning,
the artist heads there for a meditative walk, tuning into
the changing seasons and grounding herself for the day
ahead which almost always involves painting.
Some days, if the weather isn’t looking so good,
Margaret will stay long enough to do some quick sketches
before returning to her studio at home. Other times,
she’ll spend the whole day outside painting, a ritual that
is extremely important to her practice – she even citesuty
ild
RIGHT Seeds of
Change, pastel on
paper, 51 x61cm