“I’d been painting in my head for years”: the artistic journey of Margaret Taylor

10 August 2023

Margaret Taylor wasn’t always an artist but had always had a passion for the rhythm and colourway of landscape paintings.

Growing up in rural New South Wales, near the Blue Mountains area, she has lived in Sydney’s North Shore for most of her adult life balancing full-time work and raising a family.

10 years ago Taylor found herself an empty nester and thought it was time to tap back into her lingering passion.

“I’d been painting in my head for years”, she told the Sun.

“It goes back to my school days, it’s just a love that I’ve always had but I didn’t grow up in an era when schools had fantastic art departments.”

Her works are heavily influenced by places she has resided in, she said, with inspiration ranging from her childhood roaming the Australian bushland, to visits overseas and now her harbourside Sydney home.

“I had a son who lived in NY for over 10 years, so I got to go to New York and over dose on all the fantastic art,” she said.

“I love the MOMA, Guggenheim, The Met, and The Whitney.”

“Exposure to all those fantastic mid-century abstract artists like Willem De Kooning and Joan Mitchell, all those artists that you really didn’t see here,” she added.

This exposure helped to shape Taylor’s unique, abstract visuals; with no desire to paint hyper realistic.

“I’ve always liked a looser style,” she explained.

“What interests me is how we internalise that experiential response to being in a place.”

“Just by walking around the harbour and observing some of the maritime structures, the activity, even the reflections in the bay or just lights, shapes and shadows,” she spoke of her inspiration.

Interestingly, Taylor often won’t plan out her new pieces but just begins to paint and allows the work to develop off feel and intuition.

“Often the painting will take you in a totally different direction,” she said.

There is no standard formula with some paintings taking days, she added, while others will develop over years.

The McMahons Point local credits her time at art school for the ability to grow outside of her technical capabilities, with the school teaching various artistic disciplines which Taylor has found to be quite helpful in expanding her range of expression.

As a retiree she might not appear to be the most stereotypical art school student, but contrary to this assumption is actually one of many students who chose to pursue art seriously later in life.

Her works have been exhibited in several shows as well as featured in many art prize shows such as that in Mosman and Muswellbrook.

Most recently, Taylor’s works were shown in the Far and Near exhibition in Glebe, showcasing works from the past eight years.

“It was really my response to the world we move through, places I’ve been overseas, places I’ve visited,” she said. “It’s about interpreting that visual information that we take as we move through a place.”

“I’m not trying to reproduce what I see, it’s more a response to the feeling of being in place,” she explained.

“It’s abstract meeting the observed.”

With many pieces being snapped up by art lovers during the exhibition, observers commented they loved the colours, with pink being particularly popular whilst others commented her art is positive and vibrant.

Looking forward, Taylor has no plans of slowing down as she continues to add to her catalogue already featuring hundreds of pieces and will be travelling to Baudoux later in the year to participate in an artist’s workshop.

If you would like to see more of her work head to www.margaret-taylor.com or follow her on Instagram @margie_art.