Raymar Art Painting Competition 2010-2011 5th Annual Competition Winners

First of all, being a judge is not an easy position, especially in this case. This group of art is compelling and very well executed. To actually pick the top winners is something everyone should try. I was impressed with the quality of this exhibition. The process off narrowing the paintings down for a year and keeping quality was very evident. There are few....if any, exhibitions that do this. From day one this exhibition is asking for the best of the best! I have given you my best effort in judging that I am capable. -Scott L. Christensen








   $10,000 Grand Prize Winner
Award Sponsor: RayMar Art
Judge: Scott Christensen

gondolier by Robert Lemler
24" x 18" Oil

Judge's Comments: Bob is an excellent draftsman. Extremely tough idea to hold together. While looking at this painting, hold your hand over the top left corner (boat and reflection), notice how centered the gondola is. Now remove your hand. You will notice this careful placement, movement of the water and fine reflections leading toward the gondola, create a great abstract design. This is a great example of fine art. - Scott Christensen Monthly Judge's Comments (April): The award winner of the April Ray Mar Art Competition is this oil painting of a gondolier. It is an unusual diagonal design that works in many ways. Notice how all the entry areas of the painting lead to the male figure. The painting has the ingredients to make an award winner including drawing,values, temperature and hue. Because this is rendered so well I can feel the power of the water pulling against the pole and the gondola. Fabulous. - Nancy S. Crookston








   2nd Place Winner
Award Sponsor: RayMar Art
Judge: Scott Christensen

Self Portrait by Gregory Mortenson
10" x 9" Oil

Judge's Comments: The character of this portrait is very compelling. Outstanding draftsmanship with a great balance between knowledge and execution. - Scott Christensen Monthly Judge's Comments (May): A simple rendering of the essentials, so hard to do, defines this very elegant portrait. While it has an old world look, handling of paint, particularly the edges, gives it a contemporary feel. Lovely touches of red are a counterpoint to the beautifully modulated grays. - Kate Palmer








   3rd Place Winner
Award Sponsor: RayMar Art
Judge: Scott Christensen

"Transition in Rose" by A Westerberg
34 x 22 Oil

Judge's Comments: Excellent posture in this figure. The transition of light from right to left is very well done. I enjoy everything about this piece; the wrap and how it is draped, the hair, the angle of the hair pin and the tonality of the skin. Outstanding painting! -Scott Christensen Monthly Judge's Comments (February): I liked this painting in every way. It is a beautifully composed painting of a timeless subject . I am attracted to the solitary seated figure posed against a cool background. I particularly like how “quiet” this work is. The space is quiet, the edges are soft, and the color restrained. This work is also characterized by fine drawing with just the right amount of detail. Real poetry in paint! - Robert Lemler








   $1,000 Winner
Award Sponsor: RayMar Art
Judge: Scott Christensen

Ana by Casey Baugh
14 x 20 Oil

Judge's Comments: This portrait is very well done. It really captures the essence of the person. It is so well painted that the look on her face and in her eyes holds mystery for the viewer. - Scott Christensen Monthly Judge's Comments (September): Good portrait using abstract elements to tie the head into the horizontal format. The shape of the hair is modified by a vertical shadow and accented by another dark vertical with variation. The hair is delineated by a slight change in value and variation in edge, but primarily described by its shadow cast on the face. - Carolyn Anderson








   $1,000 Winner
Award Sponsor: RayMar Art
Judge: Scott Christensen

Moving Geometries by Jim Beckner
30 x 24 Oil

Judge's Comments: I implore anyone to put this much in a painting and have it read as one great whole. The handling of paint, brush work and edges show extreme variety. Very well orchestrated. Nothing is over worked, but a lot of information is imparted. - Scott Christensen Monthly Judge's Comments (September): Great cityscape - there is enough tension in the painting to feel how busy the street scene is. The shapes, values, and color notes all work well together to convey the contrast between the vertical masses and the forward movement. Great tie-in with the sky shape and the shadow on the vehicle in the foreground – nice handling of the foreground stripes, accented by the subtle color temperature change in front of the bus. - Carolyn Anderson








   $1,000 Winner
Award Sponsor: RayMar Art
Judge: Scott Christensen

A Table Setting by John Ball
16 x 20 Oil

Judge's Comments: I like the way the light moves from left to right. It is a nice subtle transition on the entire wall and the table itself. The chairs are not overworked. Beautiful edge work in the entire painting. Well orchestrated and simple. - Scott Christensen Monthly Judge's Comments (August): This painting reminds me of Sergeant. The light travels through this painting, leading the eye with ease. The composition moves you from left to right and back again, following the little glints of light on the glasses and other things throughout the room. Excellent color. - Eileen Corse








   $1,000 Winner
Award Sponsor: RayMar Art
Judge: Scott Christensen

Profile Of A Cowboy by Jerry Markham
14 x 11 Oil

Judge's Comments: This is painted with such confidence and understanding. It shows great brevity. Jerry is a very mature painter. Nice variety in the warms and cools, showing the complexity of the planes. - Scott Christensen Monthly Judge's Comments (February): I love the immediacy and directness of the execution. This economically painted profile is characterized by rich color, hard edges, and strong value contrasts. The unfinished and abstract quality of the background adds interest to this energetically painted study. I also like cool relief provided by the blue shirt. Strong color, strong values, strong edges... strong painting! - Robert Lemler








   $1,000 Winner
Award Sponsor: RayMar Art
Judge: Scott Christensen

Self Portrait by Jacquelyn Bischak
16 x 11.5 Oil on linen panel

Judge's Comments: I loved the fact that the woman's expression carries a lot of thought. Placing the head facing out is a difficult composition. The dark and hard edge going out the bottom left balances the entire piece. Great painting! - Scott Christensen Monthly Judge's Comments (June): This painting blew me away. What can I say - very unconventional, powerful and brave design. I love the rendering on the flesh tones and the hair everything is done well and nothing is overstated. She is looking into the future with strength and determination while still having so much beauty, grace and femininity …… it’s a stunner. Bravo! I would hang on to this one Jacquelyn. - Aaron Westerberg








   $1,000 Winner
Award Sponsor: RayMar Art
Judge: Scott Christensen

Night in White Satin by Josh Elliott
24 x 36 Oil

Judge's Comments: I am very impressed with many of Josh Elliott's paintings, but this painting in particular is beyond just a landscape. He has created a tone and a mood that brings more to the scene, making it very artistic. Josh is not concerned about copying tone for tone in this piece, but holding a mood. I really like the variety of line and spacing. Josh really takes the landscape and thinks like an artist, not just a copier of information. - Scott Christensen Monthly Judge's Comments (June): This is kind of a spooky beautiful scene with the moonlight throwing the trees shadows over the dark river and snow banks. The artist has successfully created a great painting with very limited color, strong design and advanced brushmanship. This painting is a delight in every way I want it! - Aaron Westerberg








   $1,000 Winner
Award Sponsor: RayMar Art
Judge: Scott Christensen

Mucha and Peonies by Michelle Dunaway
34" x 16" Oil

Judge's Comments: I am impressed with Michelle's composition. It is extremely difficult to put a vase of flowers below an upright painting and hold it all together. The tension between the figure's head and the flowers, even the brush strokes in the top left, show a circular composition. If Michelle told me she were going to paint this, I would say good luck with that! Congratulations, you pulled it off - fantastic painting! - Scott Christensen Monthly Judge's Comments (July): Creating poetry in a still life painting is difficult, but there is something animated in the arrangement of the peonies which stand out against the complementary color of the vase, and also seem to relate in terms of gesture to the figure in the Mucha painting above it. You seem to sense the movement in these flowers and their relationship to the figure in the painting. In terms of 'music', this painting has a very strong light/dark notan structure upon which the rest of the design hangs together. The lost edges between the light flowers and the light background of the Mucha painting create a large white shape in the center and upper part of the painting, and the dark shapes of the leaves blend with the background shadow on the bottom left to create another dark shape. Altogether this painting has a very beautiful notan structure. The painting harmonizes the complementary blue green of the vase and the red shapes of the peonies. The contrast of saturation between the lower saturation background and the higher saturation foreground objects (peonies and vase) gives emphasis to the vase and flowers. The repeated pattern of small blue flower shapes in the Mucha painting repeats the blue shapes in the vase helping to unify the design. The space division is interesting, with the long rectangular format of the painting mirroring the rectangular frame shape of the Mucha painting, once again unifying the design. The arrangement of the flower shapes is asymmetrical with the top left flower stalk on a slight diagonal, reflecting the diagonal line in the clothing of the figure in the Mucha painting. This subtle repetition adds to the unity of the painting. The thin vertical lines of the Mucha painting are slightly different in thickness (using the shadow to thicken the left hand vertical shapes) and so add variety to the design. The points of shapes in the Mucha painting and in the pattern of the vase, contrast with the lines of the picture frame and the vertical lines in the pattern of the vase and the flat shapes elsewhere in the painting, to provide a variety of point, line and mass - a key design element in a painting. The patterns in the vase, and in the Mucha painting further help to keep the viewer's eye engaged and allow the viewer to move from top to bottom of the painting enjoying these pieces of detail. The loosely painted background and to some extent the subdued detail in the peonies give the eye a place to rest after enjoying the detail in the rest of the painting. This is a still life with both poetry and music, a very difficult task to pull off, and done so well and creatively in this painting. -Barry John Raybould








   $1,000 Winner
Award Sponsor: RayMar Art
Judge: Scott Christensen

Tatting Lesson by James Crandall
12" x 16" Oil

Judge's Comments: I am impressed with this brilliant light coming through the window and the sharp light between the two heads. This abstract shape is one of the main elements in holding this painting together. All the reflected light in the shadows, the warms and cools, are outstanding. - Scott Christensen Monthly Judge's Comments (January): This beautiful painting is skillfully rendered with the talking mood. The light shining through the window illuminates their backs and hair to connect the pair and coaxes the viewer to fully explore the space. I appreciate the nice use of brush technique. - Calvin Liang








   $1,000 Winner
Award Sponsor: RayMar Art
Judge: Scott Christensen

Saddlebred Spirit by Lindsey Bittner Graham
14 x 11 Oil

Judge's Comments: I am very impressed with the brush work and draftsmanship. The bold varieties in brush work, yet having transition to keep form, is very impressive. The sculpting of the planes really shows understanding and brings a lot of power. Notice how Lindsey countered the arch of the neck with strong horizontals in the background. - Scott Christensen Monthly Judge's Comments (February): Bold and energetic brushwork characterize this artist’s directly painted study. She obviously knows her subject well. It is beautifully drawn with just the right amount of detail in the bridle. The subject, almost a portrait, is supported by an abstract background broken asymmetrically, repeating color in the subject. I love the shot of chroma in this painting...it’s a small thing that attracts the eye.... very nice! - Robert Lemler