Allison Kallemeyn "Skyline Watching"

20x16, Canvas, Acrylic paint, 2023

The idea behind this artwork was to paint the Milwaukee Wisconsin city skyline from the point of view of being on the beach of  Lake Michigan. I got this idea from a picture I took from when I stayed with my cousin in Milwaukee for a weekend. On the last day of my visit, we woke up at four-thirty in the morning to go to the beach and watch the sunrise. The sunrise was much more anticlimactic than we wanted it to be though, because clouds covered the sun so the entire sky just looked blue. But, it was still a wonderful site to see. It evolved because my painting not only wasn’t as blue as the original photo but the buildings looked smaller in person, and there are no sailboats in my painting. I started the process by painting the background of the canvas a light sky blue color. Then I started to add other colors to the sky to make it look more like a blended sunset. Then I used different blues to make the water. Next, I used a pencil to make an outline of the rocks. I used a mixture of white and black to make the different rocks and shadows. I would outline one side in black and the other in white and then blend them into the center. Next, I painted gray buildings but quickly changed the way I wanted the painting to look after receiving feedback. I wanted the water to look like it was moving and had waves instead of being flat. I also wanted the sky to be more blue like the original photo so I repainted that as well. For this, I used a very similar process. For the water, I lightly brushed a dark blue color over the canvas and then added light and dark highlights and shadows. Finally, I used black paint and some water to make the building outlines and filled those in. Then I made pastel yellow, pink, blue, and gray and added that to the sides of some of the buildings to give them the illusion of being 3 dimensional. This artwork's meaning is reminding me of my future. The weekend I spent in Milwaukee I felt like I was grown up. I stayed in an apartment, I went out to nice restaurants, and I shopped. While doing all of this with my older cousin I had the realization that this could be my life someday. So while I was sitting on the beach looking at the big city and the dusty blue sky I thought about what my life could be like, and where I want to end up for college. I think that I struggled the most with adding motion to the water. I wasn’t sure what colors to use or what technique to use to create waves. To overcome this I had to just try things and test it out. If it didnt work then I would paint over it and try something different. If I could start over I would probably change my second biggest struggle. The buildings in the background didnt turn out exactly how I wanted them to. I think I would make them smaller and less of a focal point. I think the art style of this peace is realistic. I tried really hard to make the water and the rocks look as real as possible, which worked out pretty well. This is unique to my own personal style because I really like doing realistic paintings and drawings. This is probably the most prominent style in my portfolio. My favorite thing about my painting is the rocks. I think they look so good and I had no idea they would look this good.

Baseline 

Midterm Observational

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