Getting Out of the Studio 2013 - Making A Mark Art Blog Award Nominations

You are invited to NOMINATE artists and their art blogs for the 2013 Making A Mark Art Blog Awards in the category "Getting out of the Studio"

The  awards on offer are:

• The Painting Plein Air Plus Prize
• The Travels with a Sketchbook Trophy
• The Going Greener Gong

Instructions on how to nominate for these - and other Making A Mark Awards - are set out at the end of this post.

GETTING OUT OF THE STUDIO 
- CALL FOR NOMINATIONS 2013

The Painting Plein Air Plus Prize 

Which plein air painter has taught you the most by sharing their plein air work on their art blog in 2013?

The Painting Plein Air Plus Prize for excellence in plein air painting plus a strong commitment to sharing information

Sledgers at Belmont Tower, Grantham - painted on an easel in the snow - by Haidee-Jo Summers

• 2012 Haidee-Jo Summers (Haidee-Jo Summers artist - ma vie en couleurs UK) The plus factor on Haidee's blog is personality plus sharing what and how she paints when working plein air. What I really like about Haidee's blog is that it's just like meeting her - sunny, chatty and confident. You learn without realising that she's handing out useful snippets and tips. It makes you think you can take up your brushes and go outside and paint just like her - with exuberant colour in her extremely competent alla prima mode.
• 2011 Enrique Flores (4ojos, Spain) is the art blogger who caught my attention when the popular uprisings, which have so characterised 2011, started in Spain. His watercolour reportage sketches from the protests captured what was happening in a crowded square in Madrid for days prior to the Spanish election. The paintings are not hugely well developed but just look at the quantity and the way in which he captures a live event - not knowing what was going to happen next at any time. It's a truly remarkable record - I've never seen anything like it before.
• 2010  Adebanji Alade (Adebanji Alade, South London)  Adebanji Alade shared on his blog the whole experience of creating over 200 paintings of Bath in just 8 weeks. Adebanji has demonstrated that his work is also about sharing and helping others to get involved in plein air painting.  He also managed to generate a major exhibition of his work as a result of his Bath Challenge and that's no mean feat.
• 2009 shared by:
• Loriann Signori, (Loriann Signori's painting-a-day) This year Loriann produced 342 blog posts - almost all about plein air paintings! She also knows how to paint in pastel on top of frozen watercolour! Loriann posts her thoughts about hiow she constructs her paintings, the materials she uses, how she addresses problems in the field - it's the nitty gritty behind the great colourist paintings she produces.
• Marc R. Hanson, (Painting My Way Through Life )  In April 2009 Marc had a Painting Marathon and painted 4 plein air paintings a day. They are not three strokes, one for sky, one for tree and one for land. These are beautiful paintings with composition, theory and all included. He also wrote about the paintings each day.
• 2008  shared by:
• Michael Chesley Johnson (A Plein Air Painter's Blog) Michael has published a new book in 2008 about Backpacker Painting. He specialises in painting in both oils and pastels and a lot of his painting is done plein air. He shares useful information in workshops and in his blog as well as in the book.
• Linda Blondheim (Linda Blondheim Art Notes) who combines practical tips about marketing, painting and painting plein air with recipes.
• 2007  William Wray (Urban painter William Wray) Bill varies as to how much he talks about his subjects and his settings - but his comments, especially about the light he is painting in and its impact on the painting plus choices made in relation to composition are always worth reading
• 2006   Ed Terpening (Life Plein Air)  Ed has been blogging consistently since June 2005 and edged ahead due to his strong focus on sharing information on his blog as well as his commitment to plein air painting.

The Travels with a Sketchbook Trophy 
combined with the 'Get Off Your Blogging Bottom and Sketch' Brass Plate from 2007  

Which artists have impressed you most with their travel sketchbooks in 2013?
Who would you most liked to have sitting next to you when sketching on your travels? 

The Travels with a Sketchbook Trophy goes to the most intrepid and/or industrious artist travelling with a sketchbook.

Adebanji Alade is currently featured in an article about his sketching
in the December Edition of "The Artist" Magazine

• 2012  Adebanj Alade (Adebanji Alade: My art, my passion for sketching) Adebanji is something of a role model for all those who want to get better at drawing and painting people. He keeps his expenses on hiring models to a minimum. He draws the people he sees while travelling on public transport in London. In doing so he has built up his skill level at the same time as developing a portfolio of sketches to use as a basis for his paintings. His blog is full of sketches done on journeys across London. The bonus is that he then also shows on the blog how he works when translating sketches typically drawn monochromatically in pencil or charcoal into portraits painted in oil.
• 2011  The Urban Sketchers from over 20 countries who descended on Lisbon for the sole purpose of sketching and talking about sketching during the 2nd International Urban Sketching Symposium - July 21-23, 2011. 
• 2010  Liz Steel (Liz + Borromini, Sydney Australia) In 2010, Liz took herself off on a 12 week extended vacation to sketch her way round the USA, UK and Europe!  To top it off, she also sketches the most amazing complicated buildings in double quick time as well as sketching while eating and drinking tea. 
• 2009 Enrique Flores (Cuatro cosas  Madrid) What I most like about Enrique's sketchbooks is the fluidity with which he extracts and simplifies the scenes in front of him - and the ease with which he draws with a brush in watercolour.  Enrique also goes to many interesting places and posts videos of his sketchbooks on YouTube
• 2008  Cindy Woods. (Learning Daily USA) This was a posthumous award.  Cindy was always an intrepid traveller to all sorts of places with her friend Ronda and was still travelling with her sketchbook as she visited all the places and people she loved best in the months before she died in November 2008. Not everybody will be aware that Cindy did all her travelling in a wheelchair 
• 2007  Martha (Trumpetvine Travels of Berkeley California), for her well written, nicely linked and lavishly illustrated posts from all corners of the USA in 2007.  
• 2006  Laura Frankstone (Laurelines of North Carolina USA) primarily for blogging her sketches of Paris in October while she was still there but also for the way she planned a whole year of themes for her artistic endeavours – much of which involved getting out and about with her sketchbook - or rather sketchbooks!

'Get Off Your Blogging Bottom and Sketch' Brass Plate now incorporated into the Travels with a Sketchbook Trophy (see above)

• 2006  Julie Oakley (One Mile from Home) This was for the artist or illustrator who has used their blog to make me feel most like I ought to do more exercise!  The brass plate is, of course, in recognition of all that brass monkey weather she has endured.

The Going Greener Gong

Who's got us back in touch with the environment - animals, birds, flowers and plants - through their artwork in 2013?

Alternatively, who's been the artist with the best green credentials in 2013? 

The Going Greener Gong is awarded to the art blog which I've found most stimulating in relation to getting us in touch with nature and the environment.

It encompasses those who blog about animals, birds, flowers and plants. Blogs are not required in any way to limit themselves to just those topics but they do need to have a feel for being green and sustainable about them. They also get extra points for getting out and about and drawing from life!

The Previous winners are:

• 2012 Tania Maren ArtPlantae Today is essential reading for all those interested in botanical art and drawing. Regular posts are frequent and always 'on topic' and full of high quality information about all the sorts of things that botanical artists are interested in. They include interviews with established botanical artists of some renown and news about workshops, exhibitions and new books. I've been reading it for years and have the highest regard for its content and author.
• 2011  Sherrie York Brush and Baren What is especially noteworthy is Sherrie has the ability to make you look more carefully at nature - at what you take for granted when out and about. I see what she can make of something and feel inspired to do the same. Her artwork speaks volumes about her love of her environment and the natural world.
• 2010  Jeanette Jobson (Illustrated Life) continues to do sterling work alerting us to the potential to make art from fish - in more ways than one - while at the same time educating us about the changes to the fisheries around Newfoundland and the impact on the fish and the local economy
• 2009  Sketching in Nature - a group blog started in April 2009 by Cathy Johnson.  It has revived an interest in and highlighting the joys of nature journaling 
• 2008  Shared by:
• Irene Brady (Nature Drawing and Journaling Workshops) Irene has a very strong emphasis on drawing natural history and shows the work done in workshops in both the USA and overseas -.  She provides lots of tops about how to draw nature up close and personal.
• Debbie Kotter Caspari (Drawing the Motmot) whose blog is described as being about sketching adventures in the wide world of nature, with how-to sidebars and a bias for birds.
• 2007  Richard Bell's nature diary Wild West Yorkshire.  Richard started his nature diary in 1989 and continues to set a standard which is hard to beat.  

Nominate an art blog for a Making A Mark Award

I've been keeping a list of art blogs which have had "made a mark" during the course of the year but I'd also very much love to hear which art blogs have had an impact on you.

Remember - these particular awards are all about art blogging.  Consequently any nominations of artists without an art blog cannot be accepted.  Plus anybody who has not won the award in the last three years is not eligible to win the same award

What you need to do - it's very simple!

• WHICH AWARD: 
• Identify the title of the Making A Mark Award that you want your nominee to be considered for
• Leave a comment on the post on this blog post inviting nominations for that award - BEFORE 29th December 2013
• WHICH BLOG:  Identify
• the name of the blog, its URL (eg "The Art Blog" http://theartblog.blogspot.com) and
• the name of the blogger
• (Note:  prizewinners who have won in the last three years are not eligible - but only in relation to the specific award that they won)
• WHY:  Say WHY you think this blog should be considered for a Making A Mark Award.

Artists who have won an award in the last three years are not eligible to be nominated for the same award.

That's it!  Simple!

I'll collate all your nominations and comments in relation to each award and consider alongside those blogs which I have in mind as being worthy of consideration.

The Making A Mark Awards will be announced on the 29th and 30th December.

See my Making A Mark website - and below - for the aims of each prize, a list of previous award winners and an outline of the reasons why they won.  

Note:  All nominees and nominators are linked to both from this blog and my main website page where all the past awards and nominees are listed

So over to you - who do you think merits being nominated for these three awards? Answers as a comment on this post please.

Other Making A Mark Art Blog Awards

Please also NOMINATE for other MAKING A MARK AWARDS

Links to the other posts seeking nominations can also now be found 

at the top of the right hand column

BEST PICTURE ON AN ART BLOG 2013

• Best Person/People 
• Best Place 
• Best Still Life 
• Best Natural World 

BEST ART BLOGS IN 2013

• Generating Art
• Getting Out of the Studio
• Learning about Art & the Art Business
• The Home Front

Links - The Making A Mark Art Blog Awards (static page at top of blog - references previous years)