MAM Awards 2011: Still Life Nominations for Best Artwork

The Making a Mark Prize for Best Portrayal of a Still Life in 2011 aims to highlight and celebrate excellence in creating pictures which help us to reflect on how the small and inanimate can be beautiful

Below you can find the nominations I received for the best picture (still life) 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 shortlisted works in the invitation to vote for the winner - which gets posted tomorrow.
• 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
• Landscape 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 (Still Life) on a blog in 2011

Nominations for Best Artwork (Still Life)

'Glass & Floral II' by Jelaine Faunce
12"x12" - oil on canvas - Dean Day Gallery

Nomination: 'Glass & Floral II' by Jelaine Faunce (Jelaine Faunce)
Post: New Paintings, New Gallery
Nominated by: David Teter

Well... darn... this is really impossible since there are, of course, soooo many. I finally stopped looking through my links and bookmarks. That only made it harder to choose.

Deciding the best way was to sit and think about it... the ones I could picture from memory... this meant they resonated with me more than others. Even then there were too many.

I pulled my top ten and reluctantly eliminated them one by one until I had two.
Incidentally some were on websites not blogs so I took them out since your awards say "Best ... on an art blog"

Anyway, my final choice was tough but of the two this one had had that little extra something to it, more than just a still life. Unfortunately I could only choose one out of the set of three even though each is stunning.

Very electric against the black background... like lightening on a dark night. Spare (De Stijl?) in color.

This one I choose for its perfect rim lighting, the grayed out green tones of the floral down inside the pitcher (very observant of her) and the elegance of her design.

I don't usually go for florals, so choosing it really says something.

BFFs by Alex Zonis
8"x8" (20x20cm), oil on gessobord

Nomination:  BFFs by Alex Zonis (Pencil Scribbles)
Post: Dec. 4, 2011 - BFFs
Nominated by: self-nomination

This is not a photo. This is a painting executed in photorealistic style. I like what I was able to achieve technically: the tiny flowers on Katya’s dress, the texture of the braided hair, the reflection in the button eyes, and the quality of the fur on the T. Bear. But more importantly this painting is also an example of poetic realism in depicting of emotions recollected in tranquility. A nostalgic recollection of the innocence of childhood where a Raggedy Ann type doll and a Teddy Bear could compensate for the hurt endured while seeing a doctor creates a visual impact. The back story is a hopeful look into the future where Katya and Colin the Bear, along with the young adults who once owned them, have gone west. They are now perhaps studying at Stanford or working as technology entrepreneurs at an Internet startup hoping to be the next Google or Facebook.

"The simplicity of white" by Maria Villioti

Nomination: ''The simplicity of white'' by Maria Villioti (Blog)
Post: In white ... October 25,2011
Nominated by: self-nomination

(No comment)

"Barrels, Baskets, Bottles" by Marie Theron

Nomination: "Barrels, Baskets, Bottles" by Marie Theron (Artist Marie Theron)
Post: Nuweland - Barrels, Baskets and Bottles
Nominated by: self-nomination

I like the various textures of wood, basketry, straw and glass painted here. I like the forms that dissolve in the darkness at the bottom