my business card for eBay, showing me at work in my studio

 

 

 
a sample of a recent original painting entitled Ringo Starr Contemplates a Painting by Bosch

HELLO!!!+++++ NOW 50 out of 55 people are finding this helpful. GOOD!!!
Read CAREFULLY!  I am TRYING TO HELP YOU!

 

My qualifications are that of a self supporting artist for over twenty five years who holds her Master of Fine Arts in Painting and Drawing from top Universities, and I have sold literally thousands of pieces of my work to collectors across the USA, Canada and Europe. Some of my sales have been prints, some have been original acrylic or oil paintings. THERE IS A WAY TO TELL THE DIFFERENCE!

 

I first became aware of the public lack of knowledge on the subject when I was in my twenties. I was invited to a wealthy woman's home because she intended to commission me to paint a portrait of her and her daughter. At one point in our meeting, the Patron asked if I would like to see the oil portrait in their Grand Piano room. I said "Sure!." naturally, I was expecting to see an actual OIL PORTRAIT---but as I got about ten feet from the "thing" I immediately knew the woman had been hoodwinked. It was a four feet high, three feet wide color PHOTOGRAPH with some clear acrylic brushstrokes applied to the surface. I did NOT have the heart to tell her that she did NOT own an OIL portrait!

 

The deceptive photographers who offer "OIL PORTRAITS." make me SICK! First of all, this scam has been happening nation wide for decades. One would think the lousy businesses who propound this lie would at least use clear OIL gel to propound their lies! BUT NO! I have visited a photography studio nation wide Chain office (I will mention no names for fear of a lawsuit) and SEEN the ACRYLIC gel medium, and the technician applying the fake brushstrokes to fool the customer in to thinking they are buying a REAL PAINTING!

 

The sad fact is that these photography studios are not only damaging the consumer public by LYING to them- but they have underhandedly put several generations of REAL, TRUE, CLASSICALLY TRAINED portrait painters out of business! The monstrosities they sell under the auspices of "OIL PORTRAIT" cost around fifteen hundred to three thousand dollars. They take about five to ten hours to make from start to finish. that includes the lying photographer setting up his camera, to the complicit developer developing and printing the "THING", to the technician daubing on some fake brushstrokes. Contrast that time with the YEARS involved in a REAL PAINTER studying anatomy, drawing, perspective, color, and on and on. Then to top it all off, let's examine the hours involved in painting a REAL OIL portrait of a family. You're talking HUNDREDS of HOURS. Do you think a REAL artist can afford to work HUNDREDS of HOURS for fifteen hundred to three thousand dollars? Maybe...If they live at home with their parents, or in a homeless shelter! Ahhh...Can you tell this scam makes me ANGRY?

 

 

 

So anyway, the VERY BEST way one can know whether or not he or she is buying a print, litho or REAL PAINTING may be to visit the artist and watch them work. If that is not possible, there are other ways which are just as effective.

 

 

Hold the piece up to the light. USE a magnifying glass. That is ESSENTIAL. Antique dealers carry magnifying glasses to read stamps and signatures, etc. GET a MAGNIFYING GLASS!!! A REAL PAINTING will have REAL brushstrokes of COLOR. The brushstrokes will vary in size and texture.

 

A REAL painting will also usually be signed by the artist in the lower right hand corner. The artist's signature should have a dimension to it (if it is signed with REAL PAINT!) .....This does not apply to a watercolor. I will cover that in the next paragraph. This applies generally to acrylics, egg tempera and oils. The EXCEPTION here is that SOME artists paint very smoothly, and their technique is to NOT show brushstrokes. YIKES! This is complicated. I guess this is why there are art appraisers! BUT NOT THAT COMPLICATED! COME ON NOW!!!!

 

Watercolors (which I have not specialized in and am not an expert in) I will not comment much on. It can be difficult to distinguish a PRINT of a watercolor from a LITHOGRAPH of a watercolor.

Most Collectors know that there now exists the technology to make a VERY good print of a painting on canvas. These are in ample supply on EBay, and mainly are of images of famous paintings which are now in the public domain.

 

Sincerely,

Kata Billups