Rainbarrow Studio flourishes in the country

By Karen Donato
Staff Writer
    Frank and Meryl Sullivan were the all American couple with a family, full-time jobs, city commutes and wanting more out of life. Their dream was to live more simply. However, they didn’t know that Littleton, Maine would be the place they would find it.
Houlton Pioneer Times Photograph/Karen Donato
LOCAL LANDSCAPES COME TO LIFE — Littleton artist Frank Sullivan visits with New Limerick resident Marilyn Carey at his Rainbarrow Studio open house on Oct. 5. Sullivan creates colorful canvases from local landscapes. Shown in the background are the farm buildings of the late Almon and Mary Henderson, which are located on the Carson Road in Littleton.
    Meryl was on the Internet searching EBay for children’s clothes when she clicked on EBay real estate and searched New England farms. She and Frank had talked about wanting to live in either Maine or Vermont. Their community of Grafton, Mass. was home to 15,000 residents and considered a small town.
    However, Sullivan said, “I would go to the grocery store and never see anyone I knew. Now I don’t go to the store without seeing someone I know.”
    The house that took their eye was the Kilpatrick homestead just north of the former Maine Glove Factory on Route 1. Sullivan moved his family here in 2006.
    He had earned a B.A. in visual arts from the College of the Holy Cross and was awarded a graduate fellowship to the American University. He also studied graphic design and illustrating at the School of the Museum of Fine Arts in Boston. Prior to moving he worked as a professional graphic designer and illustrator. Sullivan taught classes in drawing and computer imaging for 15 years. His wife had worked in residential services for individuals with developmental disabilities.
    Sullivan transformed the Kilpatrick potato house into his art studio and gallery. Oct. 5 he celebrated his second anniversary with an open house at his Rainbarrow Studio.
    He says the area is a wealth of subject matter. “People often suggest I travel to other destinations to paint, but I see so much within two or three miles of where I live, that I am happiest right in my own back yard.”
    His paintings are beautiful and so colorful. Local residents may even find their own home, farm or fields freshly painted on canvas. Some of his work is on display at the Courtyard Café in Houlton, and he travels to art shows around the County.
    Sullivan offers art lessons at his North Road studio for beginners and those more advanced. You can contact him at 538-9416 or frank@rainbarrow.net. Visit his Web site http://rainbarrowstudio.blogspot.com/.