Ros Beck: colours & patterns

After years of struggling to find her own distinctive style, unconventional Canterbury equine artist Ros Beck is producing some extraordinary work.

(image: Annie Studholme)

Ros Beck has had a lifelong passion for painting horses. She inherited her artistic genes from her potter father, and her art has been centred largely on traditional animal portraiture or folk art, using oils and acrylics. 

But like many aspiring equine artists though, she found herself torn between her love of capturing the equine form and creating works that would appeal to the general population. 

“I love painting horses, but equestrian art can be so limiting. Serious art people don’t really want it. For years I’ve been trying to find something that makes it artistic enough that the serious art collector, or even the ordinary person, wants to hang in their home.” 

Ros is largely self taught, and gained much of her early inspiration from French oil painter Eugene Delacroix and Irish equine artist Tony O’Conner, but she instinctively knew that in order to make a success of her art, she’d need to find a different voice.

A new direction

Ros stumbled across a class at The Drawing Room in acrylic pouring a couple of years ago, which set her off on a whole new tangent. Since then, her career has taken flight with her striking, abstract work transcending the gap from equestrian art to standalone pieces worthy of inclusion in any collection.

“It was a set of happy accidents that led me to that pouring class. It was fascinating. I came away thinking if I can get this into a controlled area, this is going to be amazing,” she explains.

The acrylic pouring technique involves mixing paints with a pouring medium, which is an additive that helps the paints pour more smoothly, improves their consistency and acts as a binder. The paints then stay wetter for longer, and flow together as they are poured over the canvas. The artist then manipulates them by either physically moving the canvas or by using tools such as palette knives to swipe over the paint.

It might sound easy, but the technique is tricky to master, especially when you are trying to create specific shapes, colour blends or streaks. Artists also strive to create ‘cells’, which are the circles that emerge with a certain technique and give the canvas an almost antique, marbled-paper effect.

(image: Annie Studholme)

For the last three years, Ros has devoted much of her time to perfecting her technique, and has a dedicated studio set up at the home she shared with husband Barry Ching. 

Her equine-themed acrylic pours were first unveiled to the public at the Christchurch Art Show in 2016, to rave reviews. “It was really inspirational. People were totally interested in them,” says Ros. 

After a brief return to portraiture, which she describes as “a hard lesson”, she has taken her method to a whole new level over the past year, having discovered YouTube videos on acrylic pouring. “That’s when I really started playing with the mixtures and mixing it up,” she says. “It’s been a long journey, but I really feel like I have developed my own style now.”

Mastering the process has meant a great deal of expensive trial and error; quality pouring mediums are notoriously pricey.  

“Pouring is something that you have to practise to perfect. You have to learn to control it,” says Ros. “At the start it was costing me a fortune… perfecting the recipe has been difficult. You have to fiddle with it yourself as what suits other people, might not suit you. A lot of paintings go out on the lawn and get the hose on them… I don’t like them, so I get rid of them.”

(image: Annie Studholme)

Ros uses her own horses, photographs or her beloved whippet, Louis, as inspiration, first sketching a pencil outline of her subject. And then with great dexterity, she “pours with a purpose” into the space. The difficult part is pouring just the right amount of paint on to the canvas without wasting it. It’s also about getting the balance right between smooth, calm areas and the cells coming through in others, Ros explains.

Ros’ whippet Louis often features in her work (image: Annie Studholme)

The outcome is striking and like nothing you’ve seen before; unlike traditional mediums, acrylic pours do what they want, says Ros. While there are certain elements she can control, like the colours to use, and moving and shaping the paint to get a desired result – essentially, pours are unpredictable. And it’s that element of surprise that Ros loves.

“It just excites me. It’s so totally different. It’s like breeding an Appaloosa – you just don’t know what you are going to get. No two pours are exactly the same, and even hours later [during the drying process] things can change. Doing traditional painting has become a little bit boring to me now,” she says.

But that doesn’t mean every pour is a success, and Ros has high standards:“Now, I just don’t accept it unless it’s amazing. If I don’t get that buzz, then I take it outside and hose it off. You have to be careful about what you put the hose on to though, because they can change into something that looks decent.”

She is constantly experimenting with colour, trying everything from the more natural browns, reds, golds and greys of a horse’s coat, to greens, pinks and blues. “I go through phases and stages with colours, but I get bored if I do the same thing. Really, any colour goes.”

(image: Annie Studholme)

She is also playing around with using different backgrounds. While many of her earlier paintings had dark backgrounds, she has been pushing herself to use lighter backgrounds to appeal to wider audience. “I love the dark backgrounds, but they’re not for everyone. The background changes the entire look of the painting.”

Ros’ big pieces are becoming particularly sought after. She’s now sold pieces all over the world and has also set up an online Etsy shop. She has also been working on a jewellery range to sell at local craft markets.

The equine inspiration

Growing up in Christchurch, Ros came from a non-horsey family. Money was scarce, but any spare cash went towards riding lessons, sparking a lifelong passion for horses. 

She started off with a standardbred, and once she’d starting working, bought a lovely St James mare, who she enjoyed competing. 

But she fell in love with the Appaloosa breed, admiring both the unique spotted coat patterns and their gentle and intelligent natures.

Hoping to breed big-moving, unique-coated horses, she then bought warmblood-Appaloosa cross mare, Saffron, who is by Anamour out of Sundays Sensation. 

Using world-class warmblood stallions including as Gymnastik Star and Riverdance, Ros has now bred a number of successful competition horses includes Lovely Rita, who Lucy Cochrane rode to success as part of the winning Canterbury team in the NZPCA Dressage Championships, and Gymanji, who is also owned by the Cochranes.

At one stage Ros was also heavily involved in the standardbred industry, breeding, buying and selling at the yearling sales under her Akara Lodge prefix. She spent six years working for Nevele R Stud, one of Christchurch’s largest standardbred operations, during the breeding seasons.

She currently has five horses including her 26-year-old retired Appaloosa Lace, her current riding Appaloosa Nev, two broodmares and the gorgeous young Haflinger, Aero, who she purchased from breeder Vidhi Marshall. 

Ros with her riding horse Nev (image: Annie Studholme)

While she no longer competes, Ros still enjoys getting out in the saddle.

It’s hardly surprising that she finds plenty of inspiration in her own horses, as the acrylic pours are perfectly suited to Appaloosas; “It  it gives you the unique spots without even trying,” she says.

  • This article was first published in the November 2018 issue of NZ Horse & Pony

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