Making A Mark Awards: Nominations for the best portrait by a female artist

This is the second post today which lists nominations for a Making A Mark Award.

This post is about:

• The Making A Mark Award for Best Portrait by a Female Artist
• The Mary Cassatt Special Mention - for a portfolio of portrait drawings
  

There will be a second post - with my shortlist - and an invitation to vote for the best portrait by a female artist later today.

Nominations for the best portrait by a female artist

The Making A Mark Award for Best Portrait by a Female Artist aims to celebrate and highlight excellence in portraiture and, in particular, to highlight the skills of female portrait artists whose work can be found on a blog in 2008. This is my own small contribution to increasing the the profile of the female portrait artist on the internet. See the original call for entries post for the explanation as to why I'm supporting female artists in this way.

The nominations are:

Score (no title - 2nd portrait of 2 women)
by Tracy Helgeson (Works by Tracy Helgeson)
nominated by Tina Mammoser (The Cycling Artist)

I've only recently started following Tracy's landscape and she says she's returned to figures and portraits - and wow what a return! I find them very evocative and intimate. This piece in particular has a sense of real people, and a friendship conveyed in a warm loose way but probably more precisely about the pair than a realism style would be.

CaptuRED (in Wife Imitates Art)
by Bonnie Luria (St.Croix-nicity)
nominated by Paulette (Becoming a Renaissance Woman

CaptuRED is what brought me to Bonnie's new blog, I was looking for roosters and found this amazing painting. It evokes a feeling of mother nature in all her glory. This painting is stunning and she has a wonderful tale to tell about it.

Walk Through
by Karin Jurick (A Painting Today)
nominated by Nick (100 onions)

I love her enigmatic series of people looking at paintings but this one bursts with colour and a great contrast between the static watchers and the walkers.

The chef and his shadow
by Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco (Ilaria Rosselli Del Turco -News, 8th of March 2008)
self-nomination

How embarrassing, I am the only one nominating herself.
I have a blog that I use for writing news about my work, it doesn't receive many visits therefore I am shamelessly going to put my painting forward.

Cool Off
by Sharon Wright (Sharon Wright Artist)
nominated by Dianne Mize (Compose)

I chose this piece because of the immediacy and downright human spirit it portrays as well as the crisp handling of light and the freshness of color.

Logan
by Olga Wagner (Cat Claws Studio)
self-nomination

Most of my work involves animal portraiture, but I do love to work on chubby cheeked children. My nephew Logan was a perfect subject for this fun little portrait.

My Masterpiece (Acrylics on Canvas, 20 x 30 inches)
by Nithya Swaminathan (A Splash of Colour)
self-nomination

I'd like to nominate myself, for my portrait of my little daughter. I believe I captured my daughter's beautiful naughty smile very well, and achieved a 99% resemblance. I am nominating it myself because my blog isn't too popular and doesn't get many visits.

Pride (oil on canvas, 40"x60")
by Elena Petrova (Elena Daily)
nominated by Inna Ossokina (Escape from Technology)

Elena is my sister. I love all her paintings, their energy and bold expression. I picked this particular portrait because I liked a straightforward and laconic way emotions of the sitter are expressed. Isn't it the way we all feel pride? Does it need more words?

Paul
by Felicity Grace (Felicity's Philosophies & Other Curiosities January 29th, 2008)
self-nomination

OK, I'll be brave too and nominate myself as this is a category we girls should support! Paul is my brother and I was especially taken with his pose and the way his hair outlined his back. He's a very laid back guy and I felt it came across here. It was my first large portrait using colour and colour pencil

Someone You Know
by Judi Winn (Everything is Contextual February 5, 2008)
nominated by Robyn Sinclair (Have Dogs Will Travel)

If you know her blog you will know that this self-portrait is extremely revealing in terms of this artist's ability to portray her lively talent and imagination.

I'd like to nominate the entire portfolio of Judi's work this year.

Díptico Agudo
by Lucie Geffré (Lucie Geffré)
self-nomination

Hello, I'll enter the competition too! See Inauguración de la exposición de pintura del premio BMW 2008 - opening of the exhibition of the BMW painting prize

A Precious Moment (charcoal drawing on paper, 16 x 16 inch, unframed)
by MaryAnn Cleary (Spirit River Studio)
nominated by Julie Cleary (www.thepeacefulpeacock.com)

I would like to nominate a drawing of my mother's entitled Precious Moments. It is a drawing that she composed last summer of a simple moment between my son Nico and me in the woods of Minnesota.

Responsibilities in Back on Track
by Ujwala Prabhu (Maya Nov 25, 2008)
self-nomination

fantastic portraits/artists nominated. decided that nothing ventured.....I'd like to nominate myself

Zen
by Nicole Caulfield (Nicole Caulfield Art Journal)
nominated by Sheona Hamilton Grant (Black on Grey on White)

Best portrait by female artist in 2008 has to be Nicole Caulfield's portrait "Zen"

The Making A Mark Award for best portrait by a female artist in 2008 - shortlist and voting arrangements

I'm now going to select five portraits to go forward to a public vote for the best portrait by a female artist on an art blog in 2008.

The shortlist for the award of best artwork on a blog in 2008 will be posted later today. Why don't you see if you choose the same five pieces as me?

You'll then have a chance to vote on which you think should win. The deadline for all votes to be registered is midnight (GMT) on Monday 29th December.

Nominations for The Mary Cassatt Special Mention for a Drawing Portfolio

Nominations were also invited for an artist with a blog who has, in your opinion, displayed a consistent high standard and posted the best portfolio of portrait paintings, drawings or fine art prints on a blog in 2008. This is where an artist has consistently maintained an excellent output of portrait work.

I should perhaps maybe have made it clearer that this portfolio award was not just limited to women!

These are the nominations for the "Special Mention" portfolio of portrait drawings to date - for people who draw portraits on a regular basis

Portrait Label on Illustrated Life
Self Portrait Update by Jeanette Jobson
nominated by Paulette (Becoming a Renaissance Woman)

Jeanette is an amazing versatile artist. She prefers dry mediums, but also does amazing work in wet ones. Jeanette has the great ability to bring out the "life" of her subjects, you get the feeling that a story is being told. Whether it is graphite, colour pencils or oils there is always a soft dreamy feel to her portraits. Well worth your time to take a look.

Other portfolios of portrait drawings mentioned during the nomination process for the best portrait and the best artwork on a blog in 2008 are:

• Judi Winn (Everything is Contextual)
  
• Cindy Woods (Learning Daily)
• Adebanji Alade (Adebanji Alade: My Art, My Passion for Sketching)

I'll be announcing the result during the Making A Mark Awards at the end of this month.
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See also Making A Mark Awards: Nominations for the best artwork on a blog in 2008