Painting 1

Allison Kallemeyn "Beauty Hidden in the Pages"

16x20, canvas, paint, book pages, 2022

The idea of this painting is flowers growing out of the middle of a book. I got this idea because I love reading and I knew I wanted to paint something that would show that. The idea started as a book with clouds or something else coming out of it but I realized that flowers would be really pretty. My process started with painting the canvas a light to dark pink ombre. I had to make a really light pink color and then continually add red and blend the colors together on the canvas. Then I sketched and painted the book’s outline. Next, I used mod-podge to glue real book pages onto the canvas. After that, I had to decide what kind of flowers I wanted in my artwork and I sketched them. Finally, I painted the flowers and leaves, added shadows, and revised my artwork. The meaning of this piece is to show how authors can paint a picture in your mind. When someone looks at my painting I want them to think about how meaningful and beautiful books and stories can be. The most difficult thing for me was deciding on colors and then making the right one. I wasn’t sure exactly what colors I wanted the flowers to be before I started painting so there was a lot of trial and error when it came to it. But eventually, I got colors I really liked. I also struggled with making shadows and highlights on the petals of the flowers. To overcome this I tried not using as much paint on my brush and it worked well. If I could start this painting over I would make the background a lighter pink ombre. The style of this painting is surreal. Since this is my first painting I haven’t really found what my own personal style is. My favorite parts of my painting are the vibrant colors and the idea behind it.

Allison Kallemeyn “Cozy Cabin”

Canvas, Acrylic Paint, 2022

My idea for this piece was from winter beginning. I wanted to do a Christmas-themed painting around this time and a snowy cabin seemed perfect. To start this painting if first figured out what color I wanted the background to be. I decided it should be a deep navy blue so it looked like nighttime. I used a large brush to cover the whole canvas in that color. Then I used a white chalk pencil to sketch the outline of the cabin and the moon. I mixed many different shades of brown to make the wood varied. I added the white roof, doors, and yellow tinted windows next. I used white and black to make very light grey shades to do the snow-covered ground. I used a variety of different brush sizes to make the trees look realistic. I did the details like the icicles, window frost, the moon, the snow on the trees, and the smoke coming out of the chimney. The very last thing I did was use a toothbrush and make a paint and water mixture to flick the snowflakes onto the canvas. The artwork doesn't have much meaning I think it's just a really beautiful scene to look at. It's a place where someone can hide away and be cozy for the holiday season. The most difficult parts of this piece were color matching and the 3D look of the cabin. I kept making small mistakes and needing to remake paint colors to cover them up and finding just the right mixture of paints to do that was quite complicated. But I just kept trying and it eventually worked out. The cabin's point of view was also difficult but I used a ruler and kept fixing my sketch until it looked just right. If I could start over I would spend more time on the trees and give them more depth and color. The style of this painting is realistic and I really like painting and looking at realistic art. My favorite part of the painting is how the smoke coming from the chimney turned out and the way the snow looks like it's falling.