At Margaret's home and studio to view a new body of work entitled from the Mountains to the Sea, I saw (and learned) so much more. During lunch, which was prepared by Margaret and served on fine china, I mentioned to Margaret that one wants to sit up a little straighter and use larger words while in her presence. Margaret's eyebrows arch in disbelief "Really?"

Margaret was born and raised in Toronto, went to school in England for a couple of years in the late 1930s and, returned to Canada to finish high school. Seeing herself as a writer, she attended the University of Toronto during which time she won prizes for her poetry. She graduated in 1944 with a degree in English Language and Literature. While at University, Margaret became ill so her parents took her to Nassau to recuperate. On this trip, she met her future husband, Gene Bedell, who was a U.S. Naval Officer. They married in Toronto in 1946 and moved to the Los Angeles area six months later; eventually settling in Pasadena in 1947. Five children were born over the next decade.

In the 1960's Margaret found herself among a talented group of people who eventually founded Pasadena Magazine which grew to the size and scope of The New Yorker. Margaret wrote for the magazine, eventually becoming editor but all the while she contemplated visual art and how it fit into her world. The magazine won many favorable notices and awards. When Margaret gave birth to twins she left Pasadena Magazine after ten years. In the late 1960's Margaret enrolled at Orange Coast College where she painted in oils and watercolors. Switching to printmaking along the artist's way, she received her Masters Degree from Long Beach State in Printmaking/Studio Art.

Margaret has been artistically working and showing her art on Maui since 1970 making a permanent move in 1988. After forging an affiliation with the Hui No'eau, where she printed in the laundry, Margaret went on to invent a mixed media technique where actual flowers are used as the matrix for the print. However, constant exposure to the solvents and chemicals used to create the prints became a major concern over time. While she occasionally makes prints, Margaret now prefers to paint en plein air in watercolor or oil.

from the Mountains to the Sea is at once powerful and dynamic. The artist has magically captured a mood in each painting. One can feel the very atmosphere, thick with a brewing storm in Pineapple Fields in Makawao Near the Hui; the stillness of an October day at Makena Landing in The Mountain Beyond Me; the searing intensity at Maluaka Beach in In the Heat of the Day and the agelessness of a crumbling structure amid vibrant tropical plants in Secret Wall. All watercolors and all magnificent. Margaret, being also a fine oil painter shares with us a few of her recent oils. Viewing Reflections in a Country Garden one feels the seclusion of Janet and George Allan's beautifully landscaped garden. In Out of the Fire one relates to the feeling of aloneness as one views an ancient tree oasis wedged between a brilliant carpet of wild flowers and a looming Haleakala.