MAM Awards 2011: Landscape Nominations for Best Artwork

The Making a Mark Prize for Best Portrayal of a Place 2011 aims to celebrate and highlight excellence in creating pictures about places in our environment

Below you can find the nominations I received for the best picture (landscape) on an art blog in 2011.

• I've still to select a work for my nomination. I'll then be selecting three works to go forward as the shortlist for you to the vote on for the best still life picture on art blog in 2011. 
• I'll be including larger images of the three shortlisted works in the invitation to vote for the winner.
• You then have until a minute after 29th December to vote for the work you think is the best (ie voting closes a minute after midnight GMT)

This is a link to the

• Portrait Nominations for Best Artwork
• Still Life Nominations for Best Artwork
• Natural World Nominations for Best Artwork

The details of the nomination process and criteria for submissions can be found in Nominate the Best Artwork (Place/Landscape) on a blog in 2011

Back Door by William Wray24 x 24

Nomination: Back Door by William Wray
Post: Backdoor 24x24
Nominated by: Casey Klahn

It was fun to review Wray's year of posts, and pick this one as my favorite. Then I read his entry, and apparently he found it to be a favorite, too. The stunning sunlight keys up the painting, and yet the composition is the thing, not just the element of sun.

Mr. Wray sees beauty in the fundamental things of his southern California land and cityscapes. This particular painting shines in that regard - it fulfills his goals of painting really good (great) scenes so well balanced and yet walking at the edge of our ideas of what art should represent.

A Soft light by Sarah Wimperis
Pure Watercolour 100 cm x 90 cm

Nomination: "A Soft Light" by Sarah Wimperis (The Red Shoes)
Post: A Soft Light
Nominated by: Maud Guilfoyle

This painting has stuck in my mind as a lovely place to curl up and imagine.
I just spent a month cleaning up after Hurricane Irene in NE U.S. and the well ordered safe haven with luxurious seating, books and garden through the window was irresistible.

Also, for watercolor, the size is impressive.

Last Light by Nigel Fletcher
7.5" x 5.5", oil on board

Nomination: Last Light by Nigel Fletcher (Painting Adventures in the Limousin)
Post: Last Light
Nominated by: self nomination

I have painted this pond several times and always find it provides new and exciting opportunities. This image is 7.5" x 5.5" oil on board.

The Old Lighthouse
oil, 20 x 20cm

Nomination:  "The Old Lighthouse" by Anna Wilson Patterson (Anna Wilson Patterson)
Post:  Old Lighthouse
Nominated by: self-nomination

I have been working as an artist since 2007 and blogging since 2009. For the past two years I have been painting a specific part of the Sussex Coastline between Hastings and Dungeness, inspired by the vistas of sky, shingle and sea, punctuated by fishing shacks, boats and huts.

I have been painting using water based oils on 20cm square panels, seeking to capture the suggestion of the landscape and the features that remain in my memory.  The Old Lighthouse is my first painting to achieve this.

School Run
20" x 30", oil on canvas

Nomination: "School Run" by "Dorset Artist Wannabe"
Post: School Run - A view I love and see every single day of term
Nominated by: self-nomination

I would like to nominate my own painting, an oil on linen canvas called 'School Run'. This view is special to me. I see it four times a day in term time when I transport the children back and forth to school and nursery. It was this view that convinced me a childhood in Dorset, surrounded by beautiful countryside was the best childhood I could possibly give the children. This view made me stay in the UK instead of returning to expatriate life.