Press Release:

Elizabeth Sullivan, Internationally Renowned Watercolor Artist,
Featured in Arts and Crafts Show

Ms. Sullivan has been recognized across the country as a skilled and gifted artist in a number of media, including sculpture, murals, commercial graphics and her specialty, watercolors.  Many of her outdoor murals grace the sides of barns across the Midwest countryside, which were featured in This Old Barn, a book about barn paintings.

Her favorite medium, however, is watercolors and her favorite subject horses.  "I paint motion," says Ms. Sullivan.  "Horses are a graceful subject for motion, so I often paint horses."  Her "Cave Art I" clearly captures the grace, movement and strength of her subjects, no small accomplishment considering these being contrasting and often mutually exclusive qualities.  The painting was inspired by and is certainly reminiscent of cave art and makes one wonder if those primitive works were crude attempts to depict an animal or, perhaps, sophisticated interpretations of the beast's noble spirit.

Ms. Sullivan's works have been featured in some of the country's finest and most respected galleries including Sullivan Gallery in Wilmington, NC, the McDaniel in Myrtle Beach, SC, Ozark Gallery in Branson, MO and Aquatek in Austin, TX.  But her paintings are not all hidden away in the halls of galleries.  After in impressive showing in New York recently, a Swedish art firm has spread her fame to Europe and some of her works have been licensed for everything from posters to area rugs, from Belgium to Saudi Arabia.

While some artists might think themselves above painting barns or seeing people walk on their work, Ms. Sullivan is not threatened by the use of her art to adorn walls or floors because, as she says, "I paint for other people.  Art is communication and to paint for oneself is the same as talking to oneself.  When I stepped off the cliff as a fine artist, quitting my 'day job,' I was thrilled that so many people understood and appreciated my art.  I'm still just as thrilled when someone looks at my work and I can tell they understand and feel what I felt when I painted it.  I invite the new owner of my work to re-title the piece - the viewer must be able to contribute to art, too."

Those familiar with art will attest that watercolors are an unforgiving medium and, unlike the patient oils, require the artist to work quickly.  But Ms. Sullivan is not intimidated by watercolors "because their flow and transparency contribute to the grace and motion I like to express in my art."  When asked recently how long it took her to do a small painting she answered, "Twenty minutes and forty years.  Forty years of practice to be able to execute it in twenty minutes."

Ms. Sullivan lives in Elgin, Texas, with her four cats, Punky, Lutu, Pastel and Bu, and often shows her work together with two of her brothers, Patrick and Michael Sullivan, who are also fine artists. She is a graduate of the University of Texas at Austin.  You can contact Ms. Sullivan at her home studio at 408 N Avenue E, Elgin, Texas 78621 or by phone (512) 431 7756 or by email ecsullivanart@aol.com.
-Excerpted from a press release in Beaumont, Texas.