Painting 2

Allison Kallemeyn "Rufus"

9x12, Canvas, acrylic paint, sharpie, 2023

My idea for this painting was to paint Rufus the JDRF bear. I got this idea because I was diagnosed with Type 1 Diabetes when I was five years old and when I was diagnosed the doctors gave me a bear like this to make getting shots and pricking my finger, less scary. The bear is made with patches on its legs and arms so that you can give Rufus shots and pricks at the same time you’re getting them. This painting is supposed to be about a narrative so the story it's telling is my experience with being diagnosed as a little kid. This painting evolved because at first all I knew was that I wanted my narrative to be about my diabetes and then I thought of Rufus and finally thought it would be a good idea to add a child's hand in the picture to give it more of a storyline. My process started by painting the entire canvas light blue and then making shades of lighter and darker blue to make the light to dark gradient effect. Then I sketched the teddy bear and the hand on the canvas with a pencil. I painted the bear's fur first with a very warm-toned brown. I changed the color a lot to get it right. I also had to try many times to get the texture to look correct. Next, I painted the overalls a tan brown and added the lighter stripes using the paintbrush very lightly. The buttons on the overall straps started as an orange color but I wanted to add shading so I darkened the orange with black and painted the lower side of the circles. The t-shirt was simple, I just painted it all white with a lot of coats. Next, I added the patches on the legs and hands. The bear's bracelet was painted gray first but then I thought it would look better as a gradient so I added white and dark gray. I used sharpie and paint markers to do the detailed white, red, and black parts of the bracelet, the face, and the t-shirt. The last part I did was the child's hand and repeated the bracelet process. The skin tone was the hardest part to get right and I did it over again many times. I also didn't know how to shade it or add small details. But I figured it out along the way using a very small paintbrush. The artwork means that I wish other little kids didn’t have to be diagnosed with Type 1 diabetes. It's an autoimmune disorder that never goes away and has no cure. It makes me sad to know that other kids, even younger than I was, have to deal with shots, pokes, needles, low blood sugar, high blood sugar, doctor visits, and all the responsibility that goes with it. The most difficult thing was definitely the child’s hand. I struggled to make a skin tone and then I also struggled with details and shading. I overcame this by looking at hands and basing my painting on those pictures to make them look real. If I started over I would most likely try and make it all look a little more real and especially get the hand right. This is a realistic style painting. It's unique to my personal style because I usually do realistic art. I love adding details to things and I think paintings with a lot of detail are really cool. I love the teddy bear's super cute face, the heart patches on its hands, and how the bracelets turned out.