Ros Rouse

Ros works mainly in pastels and oils, depicting the beauty of the natural world. Ros works from her own reference material – she likes to look the animal in the eye and watch it move to help her try to capture its essence in a painting. She specialises in animals from the Indian sub –continent, including the daydream distance stare of the langur monkey. She has a special affinity with tigers. Tigers for Ros are not only the most beautiful creatures in the world, but also a metaphor for the artistic process. Creativity for Ros is like being stalked by a tiger – the promise of glimpses of a beauty to move the soul, accompanied by an unstoppable urge to run forwards and a terrible fear of falling. Most of the time, it works out, the painting gets painted, and the artist is not devoured…

‘Time is the substance from which I am made. Time is a river which carries me along, but I am the river; it is a tiger that devours me, but I am the tiger; it is a fire that consumes me, but I am the fire.”

Jorge Luis Borges

“In what terms should we think of these beings, nonhuman yet possessing so very many human-like characteristics? How should we treat them? Surely we should treat them with the same consideration and kindness as we show to other humans; and as we recognize human rights, so too should we recognize the rights of the great apes? Yes.”

Jane Goodall