Margaret plans to hang brightly- coloured organza from her deck to give the place a festive feel.
Her She Shed is a separate space at the back of the house up a small flight of stairs, standing on its own level with views out over the treetops towards the ocean.
It is jam-packed with a new series of paintings she has been working on of flowers and gardens. There are also large seascapes and landscapes, and textural abstracts. The studio is flooded with natural light but sometimes Margaret will paint outdoors on the deck.
“Painting outside brings a whole different energy to the work,” she says.
“One of the things I love most about my studio is there is space for my granddaughter to sit beside me and draw. We spend hours on our stools working at the desk here.”
Makorori painter Holly Howman-Evans is also part of the tour and the other six She Sheds are at Wainui.
The idea of the She Shed came about when Cheryl was having dinner with friends and started talking about all the creative women in the community and the spaces they used.
She decided to document this and produced a book called She Sheds and Creative Spaces from Makorori, Okitu and Wainui.
The book led to a tour of the sheds and 400 people braved bad weather to take part last year.
There will be plenty on offer from this community of artists and friends, from mosaics to pottery. Proceeds will go towards the Ruel Foundation and Gisborne nurse Angela Paton’s work at an orphanage in the Philippines.
Tickets are $5 and are available at The Aviary at the PBC and Retro in the Ballance Street Village.
The She Shed and creative spaces studio tour is on this Sunday from 10 to 4pm.
