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.
The studio apartment is gone, in it's place a house in Elign, Texas with a large studio for artwork. Ms. Sullivan's artwork is now recognized around the world. Her watercolors appear on greeting cards, area rugs, coasters, etc., and art prints published in Sweden are distributed in Europe and the US.
Sullivan acknowledges that one of her inspirations is cave paintings and pictographs and the vibrant hues of the southwest. She uses an interesting technique to achieve the yellows, reds, oranges, browns and turquoise, which used a characteristic of watercolor, but is not an ordinary watercolor technique. Watercolors are transparent - so by layering one color on top of another in several stages, brilliant color pops off the page.
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.
Ms. Sullivan often participates in juried weekend art shows, and makes appearances at galleries that carry her work. But her favorite place is in her studio, working on a new commissioned painting, with her four cats for company.
Visit her website www.ecsullivan.com and feel free to contact her by email at ecsullivan@aol.com - 31989
The studio apartment is gone, in it's place a house in Elign, Texas with a large studio for artwork. Ms. Sullivan's artwork is now recognized around the world. Her watercolors appear on greeting cards, area rugs, coasters, etc., and art prints published in Sweden are distributed in Europe and the US.
Sullivan acknowledges that one of her inspirations is cave paintings and pictographs and the vibrant hues of the southwest. She uses an interesting technique to achieve the yellows, reds, oranges, browns and turquoise, which used a characteristic of watercolor, but is not an ordinary watercolor technique. Watercolors are transparent - so by layering one color on top of another in several stages, brilliant color pops off the page.
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.
Ms. Sullivan often participates in juried weekend art shows, and makes appearances at galleries that carry her work. But her favorite place is in her studio, working on a new commissioned painting, with her four cats for company.
Visit her website www.ecsullivan.com and feel free to contact her by email at ecsullivan@aol.com - 31989
