"On NC 21", 22"x 30" Watercolor
This scene was painted in a loose and somewhat stylized manner to capture the ramshackle look of the abandoned house. The colors and dark values were all exaggerated to make the piece more entertaining and to accentuate the areas of white unpainted paper. It's a fresher and more painterly way of painting that is enjoyable because it allows the artist to be a little creative and not get caught up in all the fine details.
Artist's beware!
This editorial is about something that many of us (artists) have experienced and often find amusing.. I'm talking about scams that target artists. It's pretty common knowledge that most artists live and breathe hoping to make a sale, therefore, we are easy targets for unscrupulous individuals to stroke our ego and con us into thinking that they love our work and can't wait to make a purchase. What artist wouldn't want to hear that? If you post your work publicly on the web via your website or other sites that lists your email address you have more than likely received the an email or two from someone posing as a potential customer who loves your artwork and wants to purchase one or more of your paintings. The email usually begins with a super sweet greeting such as, " Hello my dear kind artist" or something similarly ridiculous. These are obviously sent from areas outside of the U.S from countries where the English language is probably not their native tongue, at least not as it's spoken in this country. In fact I have been told that most of these are from scam artists in Nigeria. They will inquire about one of your paintings asking if it is available and the price. Then they will concoct a story how their wife is in love with your paintings and he wants to surprise her with your piece as an anniversary gift. He will usually then go on to say that they are in the process of moving to another country and that they have an agent that is handling their moving expenses and property. So where is the scam you're asking, this all sounds great? Next he will tell you that In order to pay for the painting he will need the name of your bank and the routing number of your main account. He will arrange for his agent to deposit the money into your account and he will also have his agent come to your home or studio and personally pick the painting up for safekeeping during their move. THERE is your scam! Needless to say, you should never give your bank routing number to ANYONE. But you have to admit, it sounded pretty promising at first, didn't it? These crooks are still out there looking for their next victim so be aware of this type of scam.
I used to get two or three of these every year and I would immediately delete them. What concerns me, however, is that they must be somewhat successful doing this because a lot of artists that I know have received similar emails. It's a numbers game. There are millions of artists in the world that are online and even if you have to send this same letter to a thousand artists to find just one sucker, you could potentially make a lot of money. If it wasn't paying off they wouldn't be wasting their time on it.
Now here's where it gets a little scary though. A few weeks ago I received an email from a lady that spoke beautiful English and asked the prices on three original paintings that were listed on my website. I thought that this was a little peculiar because all of my paintings have the price listed. We wrote back to her and gave her the prices and told her that she could purchase any or all three of the paintings through PayPal. About ten days later she wrote back and stated that she had been ill and her husband was sending a bank money order to pay for the painting. She had originally requested the prices for three paintings and apparently had settled on just one but she didn't say which painting she wanted. She also told me that the painting should be mailed to an address in Carson City, Nevada. Diane wrote her back and asked which of the three paintings she decided to purchase. She never replied and a week later we received a money order in the mail for $7,490.69 that had been issued by a bank in Austin, Texas. Red flags were flying everywhere because all three of the paintings that she inquired about were priced at $1,300 each and she apparently only wanted to purchase one of them. So why would she send a check for that amount? The money order looked great. It was multicolored, had all of the text on the front and back that you would expect to see on a Money Order, the dollar amount was computer generated just like the banks do, and it even had a hologram and the logo of the issuing bank which is usually a sign that it's genuine. It looked like the real deal. Something just didn't smell right, however, so Diane did some research online to get information about how you can tell if a Money Order is genuine or a counterfeit. The one that we received looked genuine based on what she found out except for one thing, something that I have never heard before and most likely most of you haven't either. ALL MONEY ORDERS have the telephone number of the issuing bank printed on the money order. This one did not so Diane talked with the bank in Austin and gave them the Bank routing number on the check. She even went so far as to scan both the front and back of the Money Order and send it to the bank. They immediately told her that it was a counterfeit Money Order and that the check number that was posted did not exist. However,here's something you may find fairly interesting, the routing number was correct. Right now you're probably wondering; so where's the scam? We decided to wait a few days before contacting the scammer to see if there is something that comes up. A few days later she wrote to us and apologized for the over payment. She said that her husband went to the bank to get the money order and mistakenly made it out for way too much money. She said that she wanted to pay me $5,000 for the painting even though I quoted her $1,300 because she wanted to reward me for my "fine work". She asked us to send her the remaining balance of $2,490.69 in the form of a personal check or money order to her address in Carson City, Nevada. THERE'S the scam!
At first this whole thing looked pretty legitimate and had they been a little sharper we might have fallen for it. If we had, we would have lost a $1,300 painting and $2,490.69 in cash. Furthermore; if we had deposited the money order and spent the money, we would also been required to reimburse my bank $7,490.69 for depositing and spending a counterfeit Money Order. That's right, the bank will hold you responsible. She never did specify which painting she wanted to purchase and the notion that she wanted to pay me a $3,700 bonus to reward me for my "fine work" was insane.
Hopefully all of you will keep this in mind if approached in the same manner with this scenario or something similar. This is something new. It's a very sophisticated scam that might have worked if the crooks were a little wiser and Diane had not done some investigative work.
Now Diane wants a raise for saving me all of that money (and a painting). It looks like I'm still going to take a loss.
We now have a NEW Companion Website:
For several years we have received numerous requests that we offer prints of some of my paintings. To accommodate these requests we have designed a new website that is a companion to our current site.
This new site allows us to offer a large selection of prints of my paintings and even some prints of my photography. Yes, unknown to most, I'm also a photographer. There are also two galleries that feature original watercolors and original acrylic abstracts on paper that are available.
Another great feature of this new site is that you can choose from a variety of sizes and surfaces that you would like for your prints. We hope that you will check it out and be as excited about it as we are.
Gift Certificates
We have received several request for Gift Certificates recently so Diane and I have decided to offer Gift Certificates for $75.00 or $100.00 that can be redeemed for Videos, Live Classes, Art Supplies, and Paintings. The Gift Certificates can be purchased on our website; www.sterlingedwards.com under Art Supplies.
(Not redeemable for live, on location workshops)
