The Best Picture of 2013 on an Art Blog

The Best Picture of 2013 on an Art Blog is the final award 

to be announced as part of the 8th Making A Mark Art Blog Awards.

But first we have the category winners!  

There were four categories - Nature, Portrait, Place, and Still Life. Readers of this blog were invited to vote for the artwork they thought was best in each category in my post on Boxing Day - see VOTE for the Best Artwork on an Art Blog in 2013.  This includes links to the posts in which I listed all the nominations received.

The Polls were conducted on Polldaddy and I'm happy to supply anybody with a pdf copy of the results if they'd like a copy.

The MAM Award for

Best Picture of the Year (Nature)

on an Art Blog 2013

'Gone' Charcoals and watercolour on Arches paper. 13" X 13"
© Sarah Gillespie

THE WINNER

'Gone' by Sarah Gillespie (Sarah Gillespie - Artist) | Post: Autumn Darkens | Nominated by: Katherine Tyrrell

I've had the pleasure in 2013 of seeing Sarah's work hanging in exhibitions and in my opinion, while images on her blog are excellent, they don't do justice to the work in real life. She never disappoints me. I also chose this work because it's monochrome and a drawing.

Joint Runners-up:

• "Japanese Chrysanthemum" by Eunike Nugroho | Nominated by: Vicki Lee Johnston 
• "Sketchcrawl at the Museum of Zoology, Rome" by Federico Gemma |Nominated by: Katherine Tyrrell)

The number of votes for the three other artworks kept changing all the time. If it had finished at a different time it might have been a different result.

The MAM Award for

Best Picture of the Year (Person)

on an Art Blog 2013

"O'Keeffers"
oil on panel, 9" x 12"
© Karin Jurick

THE WINNER

"O'Keeffers" by Karin Jurick (A Painting Today) | Post "O'Keeffers" 20th September 2013 | Nominated by: Katherine Tyrrell

This painting appealed to me for three reasons - first this painting also has more than one person and a context! Second, I'm a big fan of both Karin Jurick and her paintings. Third, I'm a big fan of Georgia O'Keeffe so to get both Karin and Georgia in one painting is fabulous! I was also greatly amused to learn from her post that both she and I spend time and effort on our floors in terms of colour, tonal value and reflections! I see so many paintings where people have filled the space in round the people in a fairly cursory way whereas people like Karin think about the whole space. Finally, Karin Jurick is also the mistress of the natural pose and the cut in with respect to negative painting. Her paintings repay careful study.

Runner-Up: "Breakfast Alarm" by Belinda Del Pesco | Nominated by Katherine Tyrrell

Karin has now won her category three times - every time she has been nominated!

The MAM Award for

Best Picture of the Year (Still Life)

on an Art Blog 2013

"In the Spotlight"
Opaque Watercolor on Tinted Paper, 12 x 16 inches
© Ramesh Jhawar

THE WINNER

"In the Spotlight" by Ramesh Jhawar | Post: : In the spotlight (2nd September 2013) | (Nominated by: Roger Brown)

Well I am going to nominate a larger than normal still life,a bicycle! It's entitled "In the spotlight". I love this painting for is strong contrasts between the ultramarine and cobalt blue and how the bicycle is illuminated by a shaft of warm light.

Runner-Up: "Bowl of Apples" by Michael Naples| Nominated by: Katherine Tyrrell

The winner went into the lead and never lost it. I think may it's to do with the universal appeal of bikes as well as the fact it's a fine painting.

The MAM Award for

Best Picture of the Year (Place)

on an Art Blog 2013

"Galley Hill Allotments in the Snow" oil
© Haidee-Jo Summers

THE WINNER

"Galley Hill Allotments in the Snow" by Haidee-Jo Summers | Haidee-Jo Summers artist (UK)| Post: Galley hill allotments in the snow | (Nominated by: Katherine Tyrrell)

I've seen this painting in the recent ROI Exhibition - plus it was saved by the artist since January for this exhibition - and it sold straightaway. Haidee-Jo has an excellent eye for colour and tone and her draughtsmanship is pretty good too. She paints in a looser impressionistic way. One of the things I like particularly about the way she works is that she keeps going back to the same place and painting what is basically the same scene from slightly different perspectives and in different seasons.

The runner-up: "Pirie Street Crossing" by Mike Barr | Mike Barr Recent Paintings | Post: Pirie Street Crossing | (Nominated by: Katherine Tyrrell)

This was a very close run battle between the two paintings which came first and second. They were vying for position for most of the poll and there was often only a few votes in it.  However Haidee-Jo drew away towards the end of the poll.

The Making A Mark Award

for

Best Picture of the Year 

on an Art Blog 2013

Every year you decide who wins The MAM Award for Best Picture of the Year on an Art Blog. 

The way it works is that the award always goes to the picture which got the most votes overall across all four polls. That means it depends on how many votes each poll gets - and what percentage of the poll the winner gets

This year the winner was very clear "from the off". It streaked into the lead and never ever looked as if it would be pipped for first place.  The interesting question was who was going to come second as places changed several times during the course of the poll.

Total Votes

The total votes cast in each category were as follows

• Nature: 248 votes
• Portrait: 227 votes
• Place: 235 votes
• Still Life: 223 votes

Final Placement

The placements were as follows:

1. 'Gone' by Sarah Gillespie (Sarah Gillespie - Artist) Devon, UK | Charcoals and watercolour on Arches paper. 13" X 13" Original post: (Nominated by Katherine Tyrrell) 
2. "O'Keeffers" by Karin Jurick (A Painting Today) USA | oil on panel, 9" x 12" Original post: (Nominated by Katherine Tyrrell)
3. "Galley Hill Allotments in the Snow" by Haidee-Jo Summers | Haidee-Jo Summers artist (UK) oil (Nominated by: Katherine Tyrrell)

Which means Sarah Gillespie is the 2013 Winner of the Best Picture Award.

I think it's worth quoting what Sarah said in the blog post in which she posted her drawing on her blog.

Over the past weeks, as a result of the exhibition TREE at Beaux Arts in London, I have been asked several times if there is a 'Japanese influence' to my work.

Sadly, I have never visited Japan but I own to a long-term interest in Buddhism and, more recently, the profound influence of two small books: In Praise of Shadows by Junichiro Tanizaki, and A Tractate on Japanese Aesthetics by Donald Richie. In the latter, amongst many other elegant and subtle ideas, Richie discusses the term aware. Aware emphasises the wistful melancholy of the sympathetic response. It applies to that which moves one to an awareness of the ephemeral beauty of a world in which change is the only constant. The element of aware may move one to melancholy, awe, or quiet acceptance. Often such feelings run too deep for words

I hope that recent drawings have held this in mind.

Thank you again - to you all - for sending in nominations and for voting.

It just remains for me to wish you all..............

HAPPY NEW YEAR

MAY ALL YOUR ARTWORK ACTIVITIES BE FRUITFUL

AND I HOPE TO SEE SOME OF IT AT THE END OF NEXT YEAR ON THIS BLOG!

PS  You can see all the other awardwinners by visiting this page Making A Mark Awards 

and view the nominations by clicking this link Making A Mark Awards