From 1950 onwards, Margaret was strongly influenced by her various periods of study at the Atelier Andre L'Hote, in Paris.
The tuition at the studio was based entirely upon observation and studies in drawing or painting from the nude figure. L'Hote himself posed the figure at the start of the week and always gave a lecture on the reasons for the style of the composition which he had set up. He referred to the composition of the "Old Masters" as well as contemporary work to discuss relevant compositional problems as well as challenges in lighting and colour presented by the pose. He always had an enormous portfolio of full colour images to hand to illustrate the points he was making.
He recognised his students, not by name, but by the pallettes that they used, in this context "Ah, Bonjour le Rembrandt Irelandaise" was Margaret's greatest accolade of her time there.

In Ireland , Margaret showed regularly at both the Irish Exhibition of Living Art and at the Oireachteas Exhibition as well as group shows such as Dublin Painters Gallery during the "fifties".
Marriage took her to Scotland and England, during which time she did not show work, except just before returning to Ireland when she joined a group at Newcastle Art School.

She took up printmaking shortly after coming back to Ireland.

Click here to see some early paintings