Where she’s meant to be

By Lyndsie Kiebert-Carey
Reader Staff

Maria Larson’s art — and by proxy, her entire life — is a love letter to North Idaho.

In an attempt to explain the connection she feels to this area, which she first visited at 9 years old, Larson’s voice quivered with emotion.

“I don’t know how to express it to you,” she said. “My life changed the minute I got here. I suddenly knew where I was supposed to be.” 

Born and raised in southern California, Larson’s family owned property at Sunnyside and visited often.

“I just never wanted to be any place else,” she said. “My dad and I would take the dogs for a walk after dinner [in California] and we’d look up at the moon and we’d say, ‘Do you think that’s over Warren Island or Anderson Point?’ We were always thinking about it — we always wanted to be here. My husband fell in love with it as much as I did when he started coming up here with me.”

A landscape painting by Maria Larson.

Larson has since found her way back to her favorite place, and brought a lifetime of painting with her, at various times specializing in large-scale murals, window painting and set design. Her works color various parts of Sandpoint, and her well-known map paintings — which feature bright outdoor scenery depicted on top of maps of Lake Pend Oreille, Priest Lake and Lake Coeur d’Alene — continue to gain popularity.

While many artists will find a niche and stick to it, Larson is not one to conform to a single style. Still, her brand is made cohesive by deep textures, bright colors and, more often than not, loving depictions of the animals and landscapes of the Idaho Panhandle. A selection of those works are currently on display at the Pend d’Oreille Winery for the month of November, with a reception there on Thursday, Nov. 3 from 5-7 p.m.

“I just love an excuse to riot with color,” Larson said, also noting the importance of light in her paintings — “the lack of it or the movement of it or the brilliance of it.”

Larson’s nature-inspired paintings are just that: inspired, but ultimately, odes to their subjects. The moose are realistic but soft and the blue herons are majestic but whimsical, poised to spread their wings and fly straight from the canvas to the Clark Fork River Delta. These creations are drawn from reference photos, lived experiences and, sometimes, from Laron’s own restless mind.

“I paint in my sleep a lot,” she said. “I get an idea and it won’t go away.”

Maria Larson. Courtesy photo.

Larson said she isn’t slowing down any time soon, and is open to commissioned, custom paintings on top of the dreamed creations she still strives to bring to life. 

“I have a feeling that when [my] time comes, I’m going to still be thinking, ‘Oh, I would still like to paint that. I still have things I would like to express,’” she said. “You never know how long you have. You never know how short time is. It keeps me getting up every morning, getting down to the studio and starting again.”

With the support of her husband, Lars — “I couldn’t do it without him,” she said — and a lifetime of love left to express for the mountains and waters she first saw at 9 years old, Larson remains steadfast in her mission to pay tribute to her greatest muse.

“My father and I would go to Hawaii and we’d go, ‘Meh. Let’s go back to the lake,’” she said with a laugh. “I mean, seriously. There was just no place that had our hearts like this place.”

View Maria Larson’s work at the Pend d’Oreille Winery during the month of November, or all of the time at Northwest Handmade Furniture in Sandpoint or the Angel Gallery in Coeur d’Alene. Learn more about the artist or contact her at marialarsonart.com.