CHRISTINE SULLIVAN'S ART BLOG: 2018

This past winter I rather impulsively closed my Florida studio and moved to Columbus, Indiana. Wait. Indiana? Aren't you a New Englander?! Well...yes, and I always will be, at heart at least. But life is a journey, it transitions with and around you, and moving to a new city opens your heart and mind to all the many possibilities of a future unknown...(this said as we drove into the vortex of the coldest winter on record in southern Indiana - doh!).

But I hear you asking again, Sully, why Indiana? The answer is simple: I followed my heart!.

You see Indiana is where our daughter lives and when we visited her and her now wonderful fiance' the smiles on our faces were never broader and after my parents passed I no longer had a true anchor on Cape Cod and we had been complaining about all the traffic and congestion in Florida and we just one day looked at each other and said, "let's do it!"

If you haven't heard of Columbus I understand, we hadn't either and were a bit embarrassed by our ignorance once we learned that it is internationally known as a tourist mecca for those interested in modernist architecture. In fact, it ranks #5 on the list of top US cities to visit for its architecture! It is also known as the home of Chuck Taylor. You know, the sneaker guy.

Christine Sullivan • Trailing Memories

For weeks we huddled by the fireplace, taught our Florida dog how to do her business in the snow and tried to decide where things should go and then I began the hunt for a new studio. Columbus is just under an hours drive south of Indianapolis and there are wonderful renovated buildings filled with artist studios. But no vacancies. And that would be a hike. I looked at a few options but none seemed to be it. Then I just seemed to stumble upon a building right in downtown Columbus that was under renovations and had space for lease. And before I knew it I was working with the contractors and team to design a space that was new but held onto the past as much as possible - a peek of the old brick, the worn patterns on the cement floor, open ceiling and a drop-down frame for lighting all with a window looking out onto City Hall and across from the county courthouse whose clock tower tolls on the hour.

Christine Sullivan Studio E - Columbus, IN

It's hard to explain what it feels like to have moved quickly to an area of the country you aren't familiar with. Using GPS to get gas, grocery shop, find your way back to your house is a part of it. Like tumbling through your days in a clothes dryer. But once I started painting I was able to, eventually, find my center. I was focusing on seascapes for my upcoming show in Provincetown and working on a catboat painting...and then a door opened.

I was in the midst of painting "Tranquility" (see below), frustratedly "niggling" at it uncertain of what it needed and shifting this and that when something else caught my attention. My Pandora station had switched from the blues of Sting and Bonnie Raitt to the Christopher Cross song...Sailing. Wait. What is that?!? I am painting a sailboat and SAILING starts playing out of nowhere!?!?! Then I heard these lyrics, "oh the canvas can do miracles, just you wait and see, believe me". The hairs stood up on the back of my neck. I sat down and listened. It brought me to a conversation I had with my Dad the week before he died. He LOVED to sail and his best buddy owned a catboat that they often enjoyed together. I took it to say he liked the painting, that is was done and felt inspired to paint several more which will be part of my upcoming show.

It dawned on me for the first time that afternoon that my new studio address, 217 Washington, was the same number as my dad's apartment number. 217. That lonely week cleaning it out after he passed floated by. And it was just at that point I felt a rush of confirmation that this move was meant to be. I had followed my heart. And now a lot of that heart is here in these new paintings. If you are on or near the Cape next weekend, please stop by to take a look. I'd love to say hi!