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Rob Sullivan

@robertsullivanart.bsky.social

Painter in ME. Professor in MA. Visual Culture lecturer. Art-critical theorist. Tolkien aficionado. Daily perambulator. NO AI • NO NFTs robertsullivanart.com

226 Followers  |  176 Following  |  118 Posts  |  Joined: 03.12.2024  |  2.1727

Latest posts by robertsullivanart.bsky.social on Bluesky

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A 6 x 12 in. oil on panels diptych: “Auditae.” Playing with natural spiral forms.

25.07.2025 23:11 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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"Ordinanda" is 20 x 24 inches, oil on cradled panel.
First time executing a grisaille with glazing at this scale. It was difficult, but I think I figured it out.

10.07.2025 23:25 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Thanks for that. I have appealed things here in the past. You're right, it took months for it to come down. I thought BlueSky would be easier for artists, but it's more of the same, sadly.

02.07.2025 01:10 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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This is “Imminea” -oil on Arches primed paper, 12x12 in. Every summer I try to paint at least one ocean-themed work.
#oilpainting #ocean #waves

01.07.2025 02:45 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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Fresh off the easel: “Amaryllis” is 18 x 24, oil on panel.
#oilpaint #oilpainting

12.06.2025 14:12 — 👍 2    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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“Apricitas” is oil on three 18” x 36” canvases = 36” x 54” (91.5 x 37 cm). I posted the full work and the three panels separately so you can get a better view on your vertical-format phones.

23.05.2025 17:18 — 👍 6    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0

Thank you! The nostalgia pull is strong. Of course, when I see this, I think of my son when he was very young. Painting it captured both his and my emotional ties to the object and the cherished time associated with it.

06.04.2025 16:38 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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"Anima" is 24 x 30 in, oil on panel. When we are subsumed or overwhelmed, our rationale can fall into chaos. But it can also be a kind of baptism, a rebirth into some new phase of being.

#painting #oilpainting #philosophy #oceanwaves

06.04.2025 16:21 — 👍 11    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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"Invideo" is 24x18 inches, oil on panel. It's frightening to know we have given up our privacies and are constantly under the hot light of online scrutiny. I suppose it was our choice to build a conjoined reality in the digital world. Now we're stuck in it.
#painting #oilpainting #traditionalart

25.03.2025 23:39 — 👍 16    🔁 1    💬 0    📌 0
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"Tenere" is oil on cradled panel, 16x12 inches. This is an early example of using transparent shapes in a more "interactive" way inside the picture plane. Also, it's my first serious use of Caput Mortuum in a work. It plays off the Phthalo Turquoise quite well.
#painting #oilpainting #traditionalart

19.03.2025 21:45 — 👍 16    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Wonderful study. And kinda incomprehensible how this got flagged on IG 😑

18.03.2025 17:56 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

It’s tricky. I needed to employ more color theory than I realized! You have to work quickly with the Galkyd - it sets up pretty fast. And choosing pigments is a variable re: how much medium you need to balance transparency & chroma. It’ll require more practice for me to have a solid opinion on it.

15.03.2025 02:04 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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These two slides represent the result of color glazing transparent oils into a straight-up grisaille. I really haven’t done this before on an entire work, so this was a new & interesting experience. It’s also very small at 4x4 in. I’m calling it “Chiara” because, y’know, chiaroscuro.
#oilpainting

15.03.2025 00:20 — 👍 9    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Thank you for the repost, Felicia! @feliciasart.bsky.social

15.03.2025 00:03 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I was planning to come up the coast to CBI and perhaps NL, but now I can't predict what's going to happen at the border, so I think I might have to scrap the plans. It's absolutely crazy. I'm sorry we have a toddler at the helm. Most Mainers I know (1st District) did our best to prevent it.

14.03.2025 00:49 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0

Note: First time posting through the new Flashes interface.

13.03.2025 15:47 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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“Livens” is 20 x 30 inches, o/c. I’m pleased that this one sold to a Maine island dweller. It’s fitting to hang this in a place surrounded by the Atlantic.
#oilpainting #traditionalart #figureart

13.03.2025 15:45 — 👍 18    🔁 1    💬 2    📌 0

Thank you always, Alai! ☺️

10.03.2025 19:51 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Thank you, Meg! 😃

10.03.2025 17:32 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Happy to find your works posted here in full flight (as opposed to the censorship of other platforms). Cheers!

10.03.2025 17:31 — 👍 1    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Simple still life (Minumentals series) - "Honeybear" - oil on linen mounted to panel, 6 x 6 inches. This was my middle son's childhood special bear.
#painting #oilpainting #cute #stuffedanimal #bear #smallworks #allaprima

10.03.2025 00:28 — 👍 14    🔁 1    💬 3    📌 0
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Tonight is opening night at Arch Enemy Fine Arts in Philadelphia for the *2025 Spotlight Showcase!* "Cognitia" will be shown among 30 other excellent artists' works, and I am very proud to be part of this illustrious group!
@archenemyarts.bsky.social
www.archenemyarts.com/spotlightsho...

07.03.2025 21:36 — 👍 5    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Fry grease, incontinence, and secret shame

02.03.2025 03:04 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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"Eluvia" is an oil painting on panel, 22 x 30 inches. When we wash away the things from the past, they still may cling to us; and the thing that’s still in our heads may not be seen so obviously in the body.
#painting #oilpainting #figurepainting #traditionalpainting #realism #figureinwater

02.03.2025 03:00 — 👍 16    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

I’m grateful and happy you are pleased with the outcome! It’s an honor to create an homage to your fine work.

01.03.2025 05:06 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Cheers, Dan! And thank you once again!

01.03.2025 05:04 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

Wonderful work. Good to find you here!

28.02.2025 01:05 — 👍 0    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 0
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"Exorta" is 24 x 24 inches, oil on panel. Closeup shot shows a Pisces symbol on the necklace, which is self-referential. Figure reference inspired by the work of Dan Katz - @thatzkatz.bsky.social (thanks, Dan!)

#painting #oilpainting #traditionalpainting #figurativeart #clouds

28.02.2025 01:00 — 👍 27    🔁 0    💬 1    📌 1
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"Tenebrae" is 40 x 30 inches, oil on canvas. I was thinking of both Da Vinci and Bronzino, but using a highly limited palette to suggest more color than what was applied to the surface. Another one from the Detached Muse suite.
#oilpainting #painting #art #realism #portraiture #traditionalart

25.02.2025 05:15 — 👍 19    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0
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Here's the companion piece to the previous post. This is "Operosus," 24 x 48 in, oil on canvas. I wanted to create an atmosphere of oppressive heat with a yearning to transcend out of the body just to get some rest. But I'm also referencing a dreamlike state of transcendence. It's purposefully open.

20.02.2025 05:06 — 👍 8    🔁 0    💬 0    📌 0

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