Ten years ago artist Elizabeth Sullivan moved into a studio apartment. That little event sparked a career as a watercolor painter. Although she had been painting, drawing, dying fabrics and doing sculpture since she was very young, Ms. Sullivan was forced to take up watercolors in her small space, because there was no room for other media.
That small experiment has expanded exponentially and her southwestern watercolor images of horses and other wildlife are now internationally known. Her paintings have been published as art prints in Sweden and distributed to the US and Europe, and have been licensed to companies who have produced area rugs, greeting cards, coasters and more. The small apartment is long gone, replaced by a studio in her house in Elgin, Texas.
What makes Sullivan's paintings so fascinating? Her large paintings of horses, vaguely reminiscent of cave paintings and pictographs, use vibrant colors of the southwest - yellows, reds, oranges and browns with a little turquoise. Attaining the brilliant colors is not a usual watercolor technique, but Sullivan has used the nature of watercolors - transparency - to layer one color on top of another until they fairly pop off the paper.
In speaking of another feature of the medium of watercolor, Ms. Sullivan says, "Letting the paint flow is an important aspect of watercolor, but it takes some practice to get the paint to flow where you want it to flow." Certainly she has mastered that technique.
"I used to paint a lot more realistically," Sullivan remarks, "but what I really wanted to express was the graceful and powerful motion of the animals, so as time passes my paintings become more and more ethereal in that expression." The horses and the buffalo in Ms. Sullivan's work flow across the paper, running for the joy of running.
Painting motion is what she does best. The horses gallop in play across the page. The mother armadillo waddles along with her four offspring in tow. Buffalo run apparently just for the joy of running. Horned lizards circle, checking each other out.
The subjects of her paintings are subjects familiar to the artist. Horned lizards are a recent addition to her subject matter, and after a patron expressed interest, Ms. Sullivan recalled her own childhood fascination with the little creatures. If you make your home in Texas, armadillos are part of the scenery - often found digging up your garden. She has worked around horses for most of her life and studied the animals exhaustively. Each new subject she takes up requires much study and sketching to narrow down the essence of the animal. Then a painting can be begun.
With her four cats sleeping at her feet or walking across a fresh painting, Elizabeth Sullivan loves spending time in her studio or on a ladder working on a new mural. You may also find her at a gallery or art show.
Visit her website www.ecsullivanart.com. You are also invited to write her via email at ecsullivanart@aol.com. - 30435
That small experiment has expanded exponentially and her southwestern watercolor images of horses and other wildlife are now internationally known. Her paintings have been published as art prints in Sweden and distributed to the US and Europe, and have been licensed to companies who have produced area rugs, greeting cards, coasters and more. The small apartment is long gone, replaced by a studio in her house in Elgin, Texas.
What makes Sullivan's paintings so fascinating? Her large paintings of horses, vaguely reminiscent of cave paintings and pictographs, use vibrant colors of the southwest - yellows, reds, oranges and browns with a little turquoise. Attaining the brilliant colors is not a usual watercolor technique, but Sullivan has used the nature of watercolors - transparency - to layer one color on top of another until they fairly pop off the paper.
In speaking of another feature of the medium of watercolor, Ms. Sullivan says, "Letting the paint flow is an important aspect of watercolor, but it takes some practice to get the paint to flow where you want it to flow." Certainly she has mastered that technique.
"I used to paint a lot more realistically," Sullivan remarks, "but what I really wanted to express was the graceful and powerful motion of the animals, so as time passes my paintings become more and more ethereal in that expression." The horses and the buffalo in Ms. Sullivan's work flow across the paper, running for the joy of running.
Painting motion is what she does best. The horses gallop in play across the page. The mother armadillo waddles along with her four offspring in tow. Buffalo run apparently just for the joy of running. Horned lizards circle, checking each other out.
The subjects of her paintings are subjects familiar to the artist. Horned lizards are a recent addition to her subject matter, and after a patron expressed interest, Ms. Sullivan recalled her own childhood fascination with the little creatures. If you make your home in Texas, armadillos are part of the scenery - often found digging up your garden. She has worked around horses for most of her life and studied the animals exhaustively. Each new subject she takes up requires much study and sketching to narrow down the essence of the animal. Then a painting can be begun.
With her four cats sleeping at her feet or walking across a fresh painting, Elizabeth Sullivan loves spending time in her studio or on a ladder working on a new mural. You may also find her at a gallery or art show.
Visit her website www.ecsullivanart.com. You are also invited to write her via email at ecsullivanart@aol.com. - 30435
