Art Competition Judge Reviews Winners to Help You Win!

[Music] hey everybody Steve here welcome back I hope you're doing well thanks for coming back repeaters and if you're new here welcome today I want to talk to you about an art show that I judged I want to talk about the winners and I want to tell you a little bit about why I picked them and what I look for whenever I'm judging an art show the show was for the oil painters of America if you're not familiar with them they're a terrific organization for us oil painters and they do these online showcase competitions three times a year if you want to learn more about them I'll put a link in the description in this showcase there were over 1100 entries in the show and it was open to associate and signature members out of those eleven hundred and thirty or so I needed to knock it down to a first second and third place in each category and in some honorable mentions that means that you have 0.5% or 1/2 of 1% chance of being in the money so needless to say you really have to make yourself stand out but the big question is how do you do this well let me tell you what my criteria is what I look for as a judge and this being a representational art show there are a few things on my list the first being drawing of course because this is representational art show you need to show mastery over your values your composition needs to be very good the colors need to be harmonious or interesting interesting choices and your technique your paint application your manipulation and your edges and you need to show some good originality that'll help you just stand out and for me one more thing is does it make you feel something when you look at it or does it tell a story so let's take a look at the winners why I thought they kick butt and deserve to win and some of the reasons why let's start with the associate members honorable mentions and just so you know the honorable mentions they're not in any particular order first off we have Kim Vander Hoek sorry if I pronounced that wrong the painting is called key bridge arches you know I've painted bridges in plein air before and they are very difficult to keep them from looking like an architect's rendering and so she does a wonderful job with keeping things loose and at the same time doing a very good job at drawing I love how the trees in the background have very soft edges and it really sets them back this painting was very dynamically painted and it walks a fine line between loose and tight very hard to do next we have a piece called acceleration by Patricia rice I just absolutely love how this bird is skimming the water and in another half a second he's going to be gone the waves are painted beautifully the reflection on the water the warmth of the sunlight it's very believable and this is just a wonderful piece for me the thing that kept this one ending up a little bit higher was the composition I would have liked to have seen it a little bit lower or a little bit higher in the picture and I think that would have really helped this but still wonderful wonderful piece the next beast is called Manhattan mosaic by Alan Wiley and there's so much about this painting I love the light that's infused in here the drawing is spot-on it's busy but it's not it's not overwhelmingly busy it's just it's a wonderful example of how you can get the illusion of light on a 2d surface not the only thing that kept this one from entering a little bit higher was the crappy capture I mean it's all blurry so there's a little tip for you always put in an awesome photo I don't know her but I'm gonna go out on a limb here and say that Ali spends a fair amount of time going out and painting on location this painting although it's 20 by 20 it probably wasn't painted on location but she's got that information in her head as to how light works and how to simplify that information and even though the composition of this is kind of in the center everything is dynamic enough about it that you don't seem to notice it or care [Music] in the next painting by Mark Anderson called the woodpile you know it's probably because I come from the illustration side of things that this painting really caught my eye it really has more of an illustration feeling than a fine art painting but here we have a complicated scene of snow on a wood pile that's been simplified and painted to read well not only is this a strong composition where the wood pile leads your eye into the scene and back along the top of the receding snow on the pile but think about this for a moment this is a scene of snow on top of logs with tree shadows on top of the wood pile snow and that is not an easy feat good on you mark this piece by melinda morrison called cherub rocker is the perfect way for me to launch into one of my teaching moments and that is that i can't be judging these paintings against each other because some paintings are painted looser than others and and if I did that everything that was my favorite style would win but what I do is I judge the painting for what the artist was trying to accomplish and how successful they were at that not how much time they put into a piece for this painting I don't know how much time I'm Melinda put into this but I do know that every stroke in this painting is important and that if you take any of them out it diminishes what's there and this painting it's not so much about the composition it's about the mood and the energy and just the life that she's infused into it and it's wonderful and in so many ways painting in this kind of a style is so much more difficult than painting what's photorealistic and right in front of you because there's interpretation and simplification that has to be done on this so just because something's looser doesn't mean it's easier even sung by Blair 1/3 Holt there's so much about this painting that I love I love that it's a it's a low-key painting I love the way he has simplified parts of this painting in the background and the ribbon and that they're not nearly as as much detail as let's say the jug or the grapes and I love the rhythm of this painting I love how everything moves you around in a big circle and you don't miss any part of it the subdued colors and complementary color scheme on this painting make it awesome [Music] now since Jim water can die are both in the Western art genre I do know Jim but as my other friends will tell you that doesn't make any difference whenever I'm judging a show it has to stand on its own and this one definitely does the composition of courses it speaks for itself it's wonderful but the thing that really stands out on this is his absolute mastery of color Plains as the as the plain ground plane comes towards you the part that's in the shadow there with the with a rider that definitely warms up brings it closer to you the values are darker and that pop of color of the campfire glowing on the arch it just it brings it all together and it tells a great story of homecoming but to me a favor don't tell Jim I said that [Music] steve staffers painting of dead horse point juniper is just gorgeous it's not a huge piece and I can tell you I'm pretty sure Steve spends a fair amount of time out painting on location as well just the the sense of light of backlighting here where all of the values are compressed nothing is black black and it just reads exactly as it should things are simplified color temperatures are spot-on a couple little grasses scratched out in the front and just hinting at the large shapes going on back in that Canyon and everything's perfectly placed for this great composition it's a beautiful piece I wish I'd painted it and Brian McClair is painting forgiven there's so much about this that caught my eye I love the rough unfinished quality of the background I love the direct and honest look of his face the broken colors that are painted on his face are ones that are picked up from the colors on his tattoos if the colors weren't already in those tattoos having those colors on his face wouldn't work but they're unusual enough that they do because they appear in other places in the painting and finally I love the title forgiving which is the tattoo on his right wrist and with one word it tells a story to me titles are an extension of the work and can further the message or like it does here crystallize it [Music] the painting entering Yellowstone is an example of a realistic landscape that's all about the design of the shapes if this isn't the first video of mine that you're watching you've probably heard me say that good composition is an unequal distribution of size and shape arranged in a pleasing manner and this painting is the very definition of that for me shameless plug time listen if you like what you're seeing please hit the subscribe button and the notification bell when you do Pig gets his wings and don't forget to hit the like button it really helps the channel grow now we get into the big winners for the associate division starting with third place Chason say currents painting is a wonderful study in the idea that less is more and it's done to perfection there is very little detail here proving the point that if it's done well a painting is stronger with less detail than more I really get the sense that this is a dusty old hay barn with beautifully placed areas of light streaming in through the roof and walls the fact that the wood on the far wall has areas that you can tell that the wood is thin and you can see the light through it it made me smile when I viewed it for the first time and you know what it still does this is an artist that has a mastery over all aspects of this painting second place went to Robert Goldman's onto coal mine Canyon great composition and simplification of a very complicated subject but the atmospheric perspective on this painting rocks sorry couldn't resist as things go back you can see masterly control over the values and color temps the dark values get lighter the light values darkened slightly and every shape is simplified and the edges soften the light in dark patterns that he paints hold together in a beautiful pattern that fits together like a big puzzle in the middle ground rock formation he has some wonderful greens and the shadows of the rock wall while in the closer foreground rock walls he has really pushed the colors in the reflected light so you can tell there's more of these rocks just out of your line of sight blasting their color into the shadows beautiful finally here's first place in the associate division I think this piece by John Buxton pretty much speaks for itself so I'm just gonna sit back be quiet and let you enjoy the poetry that is his painting [Music] okay listen don't believe a word he's saying to you he doesn't know what he's talking about he never has Uncle Albert what are you doing get away from that camera run Albert Turner cameras Oh doggone it Albert the technical difficulty screen too [Laughter] I am really sorry about that everybody let's just put that behind us and move on let's go to the signature member winners and let me explain a little bit about what makes them signature members basically you can be an associate member in the oil painters of America as long as you work in the oil medium and you pay your dues and as you can tell by what we just saw there are some amazing painters in the associates Division to be a signature member of oil painters of America you have to have been in a certain number of national or regional shows and once you've done that then you've submit your portfolio to a review committee and they will say either yes or no you can have your signature status and you'll probably notice that signature members are able to put the letters OPA after their signature on their canvas not everybody does it but you can if you want to here are the honorable mentions for the signature division and again these are in no particular order here's Michelle Isabella's painting mellow morning a beautifully colorful painting that's colorful but not garish Lee so this is definitely a colorist painting great composition so that if you squint down then you can see the patterns of light and dark this is a scene that can easily get overly complicated in a hurry but because of how she simplified the shapes and the way she applied the paint such as letting much of the detail fall away along the left-hand side the finished painting is a delight it's the kind of work that looks almost abstract from close-up but when you step back it all snaps right into place a sonnet in blue is by Charles Emerson Winchester the third oh no no wait that's not right here it is Charles young walls Charles X he had three paintings in the running but I whittled it down to this one mysterious and beautifully painted I'd love to know what the story is behind this painting was it a commercial work for a book cover maybe a commission from a collector or did he just pull it out of his fertile imagination if I ever meet Charles I'll be sure to ask him but one thing I do know it's a beautiful painting painter Linda Bessie has done a wonderful job of capturing a moment and another moment this guy's going to be gone and the fact that she's able to make this polar bear or ice bear stand out in a field of what essentially is white luckily it's not a snowstorm she makes everything secondary to the bear that's on the ice floe there and she does a great job of mixing in warms and cools to make everything work together this definitely deserved the merit of being called out as an honorable mention so we're on to our last three the first second and third place in the signature division Greg lorac is another artist that had two paintings on the shortlist for awards I thought this one was just a touch more successful loosely painted but not sloppy too often I think many painters use looseness as an excuse for poor draftsmanship this painting takes all the boxes for a great painting it has good drawing excellent composition his values are spot-on harmonious colors meaning that not only do the colors work together that he chose but they have a harmonious intensity to them - as I said his technique of paint application is terrific loose but never sloppy and good manipulation of his edges and I love the story or subject of this painting Patrick Saunders painting war dancer took second place now Western art is my chosen genre painting and I think there are some who enter in our competition thinking they have an advantage entering in our competition if they paint the same subject matter as the judge when I find that just the opposite is true since I see western cowboy Indian paintings every day it takes a very special painting to catch my eye this painting did that right away even in the first round I shortlisted this one for an award all the award paintings have all the things I look for in an outstanding painting this is painted with a simple honesty that's just so pleasing to my eye there's a lot going on with his costume in regalia but he simplified the shapes and details into a cohesive whole the whites aren't pure white in fact if you hold a piece of white paper up to this it's surprising just how much color is there but what really made this stand out are the choices he made for the background the first being the sky filled with clouds and no landmass visible no trees nothing like that the second is being the point of view of you the viewer the fact that his viewpoint is low on the Indian and looking up gives his subject a larger-than-life imposing impression that along with the name war dancer tells an interesting story at least to me and I think if you've ever been to a powwow it would to you as well [Music] quite simply this painting won the big prize because it made me feel more than any other painting in this competition first place in the signature division is called winter creek by dave Santee honest I think they've hit a grand slam home run with this painting I know I know you're thinking but Steve what is a schlub who lives in Arizona know about a scene like this and whether it's spot-on or not well it's because of weather like this that I now live in Arizona before I moved here to press kit I lived in Minnesota for 20 freakin years and I had enough of this weather in fact I started painting plein air in Minnesota and have a rule that I won't go outside and paint if it's 18 degrees or below because the oil paints just get too stiff to control at that temp but I love the mood and atmosphere that this painting captures everything about this scene rings true to me this reminds me of all those days we'd go out walking or cross-country skiing the subtle play between the blue and pink of the snow the dark undercut of the creek bank where the snow isn't the frozen Creek the Bluegreen ice and snow that's drifted over it in places that little pokey brush that's sparsely showing through the wisps and most of all the line of buildings in the background that's barely visible in the distance how they merge into the bare treeline this is a painting that anyone who paints landscapes will tell you as magnificent in its subtlety and restraint I would buy this painting if I had any money which I don't I don't know maybe this is a piece that only someone who who's gone out and painted in that weather can appreciate what do you think let me know down in the comments which of these paintings was your favorite and why there were only opinions there aren't any wrong answers so go for it I hope you found this little video helpful and that it gives you lots to think about for your work heck even if you don't enter competitions having more information can only make you a better artist on a personal note I was so impressed by Dave Santana's painting that I went to his website and looked at his upcoming workshops and I signed up for his August workshop in 2020 in st. George Utah he must be good if I'm willing to go stand outside for three days and paint on location in southern Utah in August I'm crazy I don't know I'll try to do a video of my experience and bring you all along anyhoo I do thank you for showing up like I said if you liked what you've heard hit the like button subscribe hit the notification bell and all that stuff and as always I'll see you down the road [Music]

Channel: Steve Atkinson Fine Art

Views: 101,200

Keywords: fine art, art tutorial, oil painting tutorial, oil painting demo, art competition, painting competition, art contest, painting contest, art judging

Id: dgOAraOC82Y

Length: 23min 40sec (1420 seconds)

Published: Wed Feb 05 2020