Emerging artist Harriet Links has always loved horses. When a serious accident left her wondering if she’d ever ride again, she picked up a paintbrush and began focusing more seriously on obtaining her equine fix through art. Now, she’s found the best of both worlds.
“Drawing horses… I’ve been doing that all my life. My family would always say, ‘Please stop drawing horses’,” says emerging equine artist and avid dressage rider Harriet Links.
“I guess it was a bit of an escapism when I was younger, the whole horse thing, riding and drawing. I’ve just kept that theme running my whole life, really. For me, I just love that – the form of the horse.”
Earlier this year, Harriet was named a finalist for several art prizes and ran her first solo show in April, where her artworks sold to horse lovers all around Australia. How Harriet went from a child who loved to draw to an in-demand artist is quite serendipitous – however, the journey wasn’t all horses and brightly coloured acrylics.
“I remember being
completely besotted
with horses and riding.”
HORSE-MAD CHILDHOOD
“I remember being completely besotted with horses and riding,” says Harriet of her childhood. “My family is not at all horsey, but I persisted and eventually got my way. When I was little, I did Pony Club and lessons.”
It was no fleeting phase, and Harriet continued to ride throughout her childhood and into her late teens. Then, like with many of us, life took its course and Harriet had a lengthy break from riding as she went to university then moved to Melbourne – before heading to the UK for 15 years.
“I rode a bit in the UK and did bits and pieces, but I was largely nannying and teaching. Then I came back to Australia with two kids and a husband in tow … and starting riding again!”
Harriet returned to picturesque Tasmania with her family and took up the discipline of dressage. She had a Dutch Warmblood and an off-the -track Thoroughbred – the latter being “a bit crazy”, but “definitely her heart horse”. Harriet was enjoying being back in the saddle and competing at dressage events around the state when disaster struck three years ago and she injured her back following a fall.
Surprisingly, there wasn’t a horse in sight at the time of the accident. “I was also teaching PE at a primary school and had a bit of a fall. I seriously hurt my back,” she explains. It was serious enough to require an operation, and the specialist told Harriet she should never ride horses again.
“That was a pivotal moment in my life,” she recalls. “That’s when I picked up the paintbrushes again and decided that if I couldn’t ride, I could perhaps paint.”
AGAINST THE ODDS
Like many riders who are told by medical staff not to get on a horse, Harriet refused to concede that she’d never again pick up the reins. She threw herself into extensive physio and rehabilitation work, determined to get her back to the stage where it would allow her to ride. She did just that – and also picked up a few skills with the paintbrush along the way.
“Two years ago, I bought a beautiful Warmblood – Remembering R, bred by Heath and Rozzie Ryan – who’s trained to Prix St Georges. He’s been my lifeline,” says Harriet of her new equine partner. “He’s been amazing. I’m not competing yet, but I’m definitely riding again.”
Harriet explains that Remembering R was living in northern Tasmania and suffered from asthma, but on moving down south to live with Harriet this has cleared up and the 15-year-old is proving to just the right horse to get back into the swing of things with.
Harriet says her husband took a little convincing when it came to her riding again. “I said to my husband, ‘Oh, I think [daughter] Claudia might ride. Claudia and I are going to see this horse for her to ride.’ Because he was like, ‘No way… you’re not allowed to ride. This is not happening.’ And now we’ve got him, and my husband sees how beautiful and quiet he is, he doesn’t mind that I’m riding him again.”
The truth is none of Harriet’s three children are all that interested in horses or riding. “That was a bit of a trick, but it had to be done,” she laughs, adding she’s more than happy for her children to have other interests so that she can have Remembering R to herself.
“He’s been fabulous. He’s super comfortable and I’ve got a really good saddle. I feel like it’s actually been good for my back. Walk and canter are the best. Trot not so much,” she adds with a grin.
Recently, the family moved to a stunning five-acre property at Clifton Beach southeast of Hobart. “We’ve put in stables and a full-size dressage arena, and my whole life is revolving around riding, dressage and painting.
“I’ve really got my confidence back riding, and that’s just been a beautiful little journey that I’ve been on. I’ve got some beautiful photos of Remembering R, he’s definitely my main artistic inspiration. So, now I get to do the riding and the art, so that’s just awesome.”
COLLECTING COLOUR
Harriet’s paintings are not just inspired by horses, but also her global travels and diverse life encounters. “I collect colour. Throughout all my travels and life experiences, I have collected a big bank of colours that I love,” she explains. When Harriet is painting in her studio, her approach to each piece is intuitive and colour-driven.
“I’ll literally just feel like painting in greens or pinks – or whichever colours – and I won’t know what I’m going to paint until I go up into my studio. I’ll have the horse form sorted out, but then the abstract piece will just come to me intuitively. It’s a very cathartic process, one that I’m really addicted to and can’t stop doing. It’s very feeling orientated.”
“I feel like
I collect colour.”
Harriet generally works predominately with acrylics but also mixed media, including oil paints, oil pastels and oil sticks, and even charcoal. “I’ll draw back into the painting with charcoal or oil pastels or oil stick, and sometimes I’ll use oil paint, but I think I prefer the acrylics as the main medium.”
Each of Harriet’s pieces is heavily layered. “They are quite textural, the equine focus often has roughly 50 layers, and I juxtapose that with the flat, matte background. Each painting has lots of different elements and layers to it,” she explains.
Harriet says she’s lucky enough to have a huge studio space at home, and her painting schedule ebbs and flows according to family life. “I’ll just paint when I can. I’ve got three young kids, but when they’re at school I can throw a layer on and keep going that way. And after dinner I’ll go up and put another layer on.”
Harriet’s favourite paintings are her life-size pieces, which often take a month to complete. “It depends how much time I devote to it, but usually a month. Sometimes I’ll leave a piece and it’ll take nine months to finish, and sometimes I’ll be completely obsessed by something I’m doing, and I’ll finish it in a week or two weeks.”
PRIZED ART
Earlier this year, Harriet was named a finalist for both The Next Big Thing Art Prize in Toowoomba and also the Petite Pieces Art Prize in Brisbane.
“I did this beautiful, huge canvas of a life-sized horse, which I called ‘Head In The Clouds’. It was a blue abstract piece. I entered The Next Big Thing Art Prize as I’d heard about the Toowoomba Gallery before and loved the work they’ve got there. I decided you’ve got to be in it to win it!”
Harriet had all but forgotten about submitting the entry when she received a call. “I got a call to say that I was a finalist, and I was so excited… but then I thought, ‘Oh God, how am I going to get this life-size horse to Queensland?’”
The horse painting and Harriet made it to Toowoomba Gallery, and it turned out to be well worth the interstate journey. “They’ve decided that they will represent me and take me to the Sydney Affordable Art Fair with another stable of horses, so that’s pretty cool.”
Also a finalist in the Petite Pieces Art Prize as well in Brisbane, Harriet explains this piece – as the competition name suggests – was much smaller. “It was another abstract horse, a blue piece that I did. So it’s been a pretty exciting year with lots of things happening and lots of prizes.”
“It’s a very cathartic
process, one that I’m
really addicted to.”
Running her first solo exhibition in April, Harriet sold lots of pieces that are now all around Australia. “I’ve just put a new section on my website about commissions, and I’ve just been asked to do three or four commissions of various horses.” Harriet explains that for commissions, she visits the property, photographs the horse, and then takes those images away to her studio to complete the piece in her individual style.
“I feel like I’ve
got my cake and
I can eat it too.”
“It would have been easy to not have ridden again or not have painted again,” muses Harriet. “I’m busy already with three kids and a husband, and my life was pretty full as it was. But now, I’ve carved out this life where I feel like I’ve got my cake and I can eat it too. I’m really happy that I put the work in to have the life that I have now, and I’m really grateful for it. It’s been a journey, but well worth it.” EQ
You can find out more about Harriet Links and her art here.
