Since the theft of my Art is on the rise again I am hanging this out there.
(I know I am preaching to the choir, but I am so frustrated I feel like my brain is going to explode)
1.) In the case of my own paintings, not done for clients or via photos with permission from Dawn Shaw of Lone Ceder or Andrea Barber of Sand Meadows and her stunning Dream Team.
I either owned or own the subjects at the time I took the reference photographs, ie, horses, cats, “husband”, etc. Drawings or paintings done of other people, photographs where taken at open public shows or with their permission, with my own camera. Paintings done of Fighter aircraft, I did the photographs, in person with my camera, at places that allowed this. Same with the cottages and so on.
2.) I have heard it all before, every sorry excuse you could possibly think of. I won't thank you for stealing and selling my Art. No, I won't be happy for the free exposure to my stolen Art. That never works anyway. What happens is the real Artist loose sales.
3.) Google does say to check for Copyrights. Which the thieves do not, because they would of found out my Art is copy righted. Just because you found my painting OR Silhouettes of my paintings on Google or other places, doesn't mean they are yours to use. Many Online shops show Art, normally with words like Image Kind, Cafe Press across the front of the Artist's paintings, show the Art as advertisements, so you will BUY the Artist’s hard work.
Telling me I should go after Google for making you, the thief, steal my Art, is
Addlepated(aka stupid)
3a.) I seriously regret selling Silhouettes of my paintings, it has become such a thorn in my side it isn't funny. Because of the rampant theft, they have been pulled from all my Online shops awhile ago.
4.) Specially with the horses... telling me all horses look alike and that you can do what ever you want with my paintings because of that, is wrong and a excuse, you got caught stealing my Art.
If that was the case, I should go to your barn, steal your horse, because you know, All horses look alike and then make money, breeding raising and selling foals from your mare and stallion.
Oh ya, sorry you are upset, but again, like you said, all horses look the same, no way you could prove they are yours.
If you didn't get it before, I hope you understand now. Stealing is stealing.
4a.) Most Artist's have a certain style to their Art, its pretty easy to see this. Its like a finger print.
And changing 10% of an Artist’s work, doesn’t make it your own either. Its a fable thrown around by dishonest people so they can justify what they do.
5.) I get told, I want all your photos, paintings and copyright so my lawyer can go after you.
Another almost funny, firstly, the thief stole from me, not the other way around. All that aggressive bravado, isn’t going to help a thief, as they don’t have a legal leg to stand on.
I am not stupid. I am not going to hand anything to a thief. You want to send a lawyer after me, you will not like the out come. Been there, done that, bought the T shirt and shorts.
This is really depressing, but my most stolen works of Art , I have a packet ready to send out when needed.
This includes, the original photograph reference I took with my camera, it includes a photo of the original painting I did with that photograph (yes, I have 99% of my original paintings) and it has been copyrighted by the US Copyright office.
(is specially.... and sickly funny... when people steal the Art of me driving Maggie in my Cart, with the photo my DS took. Thinking they can tell me, that is their horse and them. Because one.. you will see a certain hat, I love to wear and still have, in these drawings, I owned the cart, still have that shirt I wore in that photo, the special harness Maggie has, which is not something you can just buy any more and of course Maggie is still part of the family. No one, has ever been has ever been able to prove that they owned or own any of these things, while I can. )
Its scary how many companies and so on, I have had to send these packages out too. But my stolen Art is always removed.
If the single person refuses to stop selling my stolen Art, they go onto my Blog and I let the horse (or which ever) Artist community know about the thief, because if they are stealing my Art, they are stealing, using and profiting from others.
6.) Getting aggressive and nasty at me because you got caught stealing and selling my Art isn’t going to make me back down. As I have said, I have heard it all before. I don't care how long you have been making money off my Art, I will want you to stop. And no, I no longer feel like being nice in response, I have been through this so many times............its not funny.
7.) I know many Artists and I would say 99% of us are seriously tired of people stealing and profiting from our hard work. In many cases we do Art for therapy due to bad health. Art is what we can do. Stealing from Artists, means they don't eat. While they think they are not doing any harm, the thief always is. The stress thieves cause, is incredibly hard on us, takes a big toll on us mentally. Not good on those with bad health.
8.) I do have good friends use photos I have taken for their own paintings, Photos I took, that I am “not” using myself or did not make a painting of and never would be in my Online shops. One thing they do, that the thieves don't, They ask permission before hand. And respect what I tell them.
Also don’t mind, people sharing my photos on FB and such... as they are just sharing.
I know some think I am mean for defending myself and my Art, but think of it this way, would you think it ok, if someone stole your hard earned paycheck, because all money looks the same? That they deserved to profit from your hard work and you should be happy about it and let them have the money, because you have money falling out of the trees and don’t mind not having food on the table?
Or I should just contact them via email, I do that, and normally 85% of the time, things are resolved quietly and no one knows what went on. There are some however, frustrate me so much, I will let others know what is going on. If they are stealing from me, and if you are an Artist, there is a good chance they are stealing from you too.
