Sunday, December 30, 2012

The Home Front - The Making A Mark Awards 2012

The penultimate category of the 7th Annual Making A Mark Awards  concerns matters relating to the practical aspects of our artistic art and/or how to make life at home with the artist that bit better.

There are three awards:
  • The Most Gorgeous Mouthwatering (MGM) Studio of the Year
  • The Art Innovation of the Year Award
  • “The Moose” - the award for the best animal in an illustrated blog
The Most Gorgeous Mouthwatering (MGM) Studio of the Year

The Most Gorgeous Mouthwatering (MGM) Studio of the Year is for the Most Improved Studio of the Year and reflects the continuous efforts of many artists to improve our studio and working environments


Previous winners are

My poll this year about What's the best place to sell art? established that just four places were effective for selling art.  "Direct from the studio" was listed by nearly a quarter of artists as their best place and overall it ranked #1 for both revenue and profit.  Small wonder then that people should want to improve their studios since they have potential for sales as well as creating!

That said for the most part people were focused on improving their working space this year and a number of people took action to improve their studio arrangements:
However, the biggest studio makeover of the year that i know of was undertaken by Jana Bouc (JanasJournal.com) who moved her entire studio into her garage! See My New Remodeled Art Studio Tour (at last!).  The before and after photos are quite something - and she deserves an award for discovering a new floor suitable for studios!  Jana also clearly demonstrates how it is possible to recycle a lot of domestic goods and equipment acquired cheaply into really useful studio equipment.
I'm not sure it's MGM grand, but I love it and it's my favorite place in the world to be. I have everything I need with a place for everything, flexibility to do any kind of work, room for teaching, great lighting, comfort whether it's hot or cold out, and the ability to work any hours I want with a great sound system playing music or audio books.
Below you can find a video of Jan giving you a tour of the studio.

The 2012 Winner of
The Most Gorgeous Mouthwatering (MGM) Studio of the Year
is
Jana Bouc




The Art Innovation of the Year Award

The Art Innovation of the Year Award is awarded to highlight those artist bloggers who experiment and/or create and/or share innovations which help the practice of other artists.

The sharing may be through:

  • the invention of a new tool or art medium to aid artists
  • testing and reviewing a new art medium or material
  • experiments with existing or new art media, materials or equipment and the creation of a new way of doing things 

This was a new award last year.  It came about because I've found it quite remarkable how many accomplished and practising artists -who are also art bloggers - have gone that extra mile and addressed their own personal and practical needs by creating a new tool or experimenting with new media, which they then share with other artists!

The Joint Inaugural Winners in 2011 were:
I've had the winner of this year's award in mind ever since I wrote a blog post about it - see Nicole Caulfield and her Mobile Art Studio / Gallery.

In the summer of 2012, Nicole Caulfield (Nicole Caulfield Fine Art) reinvented a small camper as a mobile art studio and gallery.  The idea was truly inspired - right down to the vintage/retro design!  My blog post gives the story of the mobile studio/gallery so I won't add any more here except to say Nicole did it all by herself.  So take heart all those who want a space to call their own - and somewhere to keep dry at art fairs when it rains!

The 2012 Winner of
Art Innovation of the Year Award
is
Nicole Caulfield and the Sublime Mobile Art Gallery

The Exterior of the Sublime Mobile Art Gallery
The exterior has a red and white striped awning attached when 'on duty'
The door doubles as a place to hang Nicole's series of food art.
Plus art hangs from a hanging rail attached to the top of the side of the caravan

The very original "Moose"
“The Moose” - the award for the best animal in an illustrated blog

    "The Moose" Award for the best animal in an illustrated blog is named after the first winner of this award.  The animal can be wild or domestic, a perennial subject or the studio pet.

    This award is for particularly noteworthy artwork about an animals or animals (wild or domestic) posted to an art or illustrated blog in 2012. The original intention was that it would be about the studio pet (hence why it's in this category) - however over the years it's grown beyond this to being a blog about artists involved with animals - and fish and birds!

    Previous winners are
    2006:  Maggie Stiefvater (Greywaren Art ) - Moose
    2007:  Gayle Mason (Fur in the Paint) - “Out of Sight”
    2008:  Tracy Hall (Watercolour Artist)
    2009:  Kimberly Santini (The Painting a Dog a Day Project)
    2010:  Jeanette Jobson's (Illustrated Life)

    2011:  Debbie Kotter Caspari (Drawing the Motmot)

    I have to say I've grown very fond of Paula Pertile's (Drawing a Fine Line) mad, bad and very splendid cats (see Thanksgiving) who I am sure would be very much appreciated by anybody who likes cats.

    The funny thing is that, according to Paula, she doesn't draw cats at all.  Felines are certainly not listed on her "what I draw' statement.  ("I'm an artist who draws children's picture books, architecture, still and "un-still" lifes, food, portraits and yarn."

    However I keep seeing her cats on her blog - they pop up simply everywhere! I keep expecting them to get a Facebook page. Here are some of the drawings which I think wouldn't have happened if they hadn't been around.  For 2013, I think Paula ought to seriously consider giving her cats a free rein - after all there are an awful lot of feline art lovers out there!

    Mad cats - © Paula Pertile
    Bedtime story - © Paula Pertile
    Mexican fish and chips - © Paula Pertile
    It gives me very great pleasure to declare........


    The winners of
    "The Moose" Award 2012
    for the best animal on an illustrated blog are
    Paula's cats - drawn by Paula Pertile


    Tomorrow I'll be announcing the winner of the Best Picture Awards.

    12 comments:

    1. Nous sommes à quelques heures de la nouvelle année alors je vous renouvelle tous mes voeux pour 2013... Gros bisous.

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    2. Thank you for always providing links, Kathleen. I so enjoy visiting these new sites.

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      1. Thanks - that's why I do it.

        BTW It'sKatherine not Kathleen

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    3. I put the camper on my "I want List".
      Love,
      Linda

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      Replies
      1. Linda - I kept thinking this would suit some of the other artists I know very well indeed! I know there are a fair few who do a fair imitation of the paint job! :)

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    4. This is just great! The Sublime Mobile Art Gallery. Thank you for sharing.

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    5. What a wonderful and unexpected thing to wake up to!!! Thank you, I'm speechless, really.
      You might be happy to know that I AM working on a series of cat art (and even say so on my website - http://www.paulapertile.com/bio.htm ), but have been keeping it under wraps. I'm so glad to know I might be on the right track!
      Thank you, really. Congrats to all the other winners too!!!

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      Replies
      1. Paula - I fully expect your furry friends to be keeping you in the lifestyle to which you'd like to become accustomed. They're really really good! Definitely worth a Facebook Page - I'd like it! :)

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    6. Thanks so much Katherine. I'm so happy to be able to share my studio and what I've learned in the remodeling process about materials, lighting, flooring, etc. I'm especially pleased that you chose to highlight my recycling and repurposing of used items from homes and businesses in the studio. I'd have thought they'd make it seem less grand compared to some studios I've seen where everything is new, perfect and high end. But to me function is more important than appearance: if it works well it's beautiful!

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