^{PLOT TWIST (2024), DETAIL}

My work with paint often begins with an inquiry. This collection is oriented around a simple question—one that I consider literally, and also as a metaphor: How does it feel to be in the wind?

I have described my last year as being ‘in the wind,’ which is to say it has been one of movement, unpredictability, gusts, and tentative landings. To be ‘in the wind’ is my way of describing, as gracefully as I can manage, the feeling of being untethered and unsettled—a state we humans generally try to resist. Instead I wondered if it had something to teach me.

^{SOMETHING TO HOLD ON TO (2024), DETAIL}

So I studied the wind—the actual wind—that invisible breath between lines and forms. I felt its ferocity, and its sweetness. I felt its rhythms, and its volatility. I saw its sweeping strokes, and its faint shivers. I sensed the wind around me change direction (so unruly!) and I went with it, I bent with it—because you don’t try to stay fixed in the wind.

<sup>ALL I CAN HEAR IS WIND IN MY EAR (2024), DETAIL 





AS THOUGH THEY HAD WINGS (2024), DETAIL</sup>

Wind is energy. Energy is color. I brought the feeling of being in the wind into my brushstrokes, into my body, often moving quickly across the canvas with multiple brushes—one applying color, one blurring it into another. It became almost a dance, certainly an exercise in losing control. Many of the pieces started out much differently than they ended up, transformations brought on by letting go of my expectations. Even when I stepped away from the paintings in an act of resolution, the compositions I present have wind moving through them.

<sup>ROSY-FINGERED DAWN (2024), DETAIL 





A WHISPER LIKE WIND THROUGH THE TREES (2024), DETAIL</sup> 

Transitions of the natural world are mirrored in the arc of the group—some of which I painted while living in the mountains of Montana last fall, others took shape during spring’s awakening in the Hudson Valley, NY this year.

Universally, wind moves things around us, and perhaps more importantly, if we let it, it moves things through us. Wind has a unique ability to both fill a space and clear a space. I’m not interested here in what happens before or after the wind. This work lives in the space between—the liminal parts we don’t land on, but which are essential to the way through.

Please inquire for catalog of available work: studio@alainasullivan.com




In the Wind (2023)
Acrylic on linen  
19 x 25 x 2 in





Your Breath in the Pine (2023)
Acrylic on linen  
19 x 25 x 2 in





Rosy-Fingered Dawn (2024)
Acrylic on linen  
19 x 25 x 2 in





An Exuberant Stirring (2024)
Acrylic on linen  
19 x 25 x 2 in





Restless in the Trembling Grass (2024)
Acrylic on linen  
19 x 25 x 2 in





A Whisper Like Wind Through the Trees (2024)
Acrylic on linen  
19 x 25 x 2 in





As Though They Had Wings (2024)
Acrylic on linen  
19 x 25 x 2 in





Off the Ground (2024)
Acrylic on linen  
19 x 25 x 2 in





Plot Twist (2024)
Acrylic on linen  
19 x 25 x 2 in





All I Can Hear is Wind in My Ear (2024)
Acrylic on linen  
19 x 25 x 2 in





Something to Hold On To (2024)
Acrylic on linen  
19 x 25 x 2 in






Details
Each painting in this collection is an original work signed by the artist and is finished with a custom natural maple frame and hanging hardware. 

For more information about these works, or to inquire about the availability of a piece, please email studio@alainasullivan.com.

‘In the Wind’ was produced and photographed by Alaina in the Hudson Valley, NY in 2024. A special thank you to Hudson Framers’ Steve Hanrahan for the framing.