$20K portrait prize won by Kingston, Ont., artist

Michael Bayne, a Kingston, Ont., artist, has won the 2011 Kingston Prize for portraiture with a realistic painting of an old woman.

Orange Grandma, an oil on wood by Michael Bayne of Kingston, Ont., won the Kingston Prize for portraiture. (Courtesy of Michael Bayne)

Orange Grandma, a 2011 oil on wood panel that captures every line and shadow of an elderly face, was named winner of the competition Thursday at the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto.

The Kingston Prize, Canada’s only award for portraits, comes with a $20,000 cash prize after a donation from the W. Garfield Weston Foundation doubled the prize pot for the winner in 2011.

A winner and two honourable mentions, who each win $2,000, are chosen by a jury from a list of 30 painters. This year's jury members included gallery owner Marina Cutler, art critic Robert Enright and artist Natalka Husar.

Bayne, born in 1977 in Ottawa, studied art at Queen’s University and Concordia. In exhibits over the last seven years in New York, Chicago, Montreal and Toronto, he has shown paintings in a photo-realist style, including a series showing strip malls and suburban streetscapes.

The Compromise, an oil painting by Tammy Salzl, earned an honourable mention. Courtesy of Tammy Salzl

The honourable mentions went to:

•     Steven Spazuk of Léry, Que., for Danielle 3, a soot on paper sketch of a woman.
•     Tammy Salzl of Montreal, for The Compromise, an oil on paper of four girls.

All 30 entries are being exhibited at the ROM until Jan. 29. A people's choice winner will be named in December.

CBC News