Wild BEAUTY

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

- REBECCA BRADBURY

You 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.