social media LOVE/HATE thingy

yes yes yes !!!!! how much do i love my iPhone , am getting the new one soon . I love social media as much as you do except as an artist i have a love hate relationship with it and its complicated . lol Since my first post a decade or so ago its been a LOVE affair . With the sweet you get 'likes', you just knew there would be the sour with artists infringing on your artwork. So then we all started watermarking all our pictures .

and the dreaded  'The images on this site are subject to copyright laws. Unauthorized duplication of these works will be punishable by law.'

So when watermarks and our names are plastered across images is for the arts protection to stop people downloading and making prints etc . Yes if caught they will get nasty lawyer letters and no one wants that . I personally get very upset and emotional when my art is copied or shall we say when they try to copy my style etc . I have had many cases in my career so far and its just shocking to try to understand why someone would want to copy my art or paint in my style . I get very mad indeed but then my manager gets mad and its ON. 

Galleries are wonderful with this infact and most of my art openings you will get a evil look if you try to photograph one of my paintings . As an artist i would never take a photo of an artist work at an art opening unless the artist was standing in front of it . I love the gallery system for this reason they are there to protect the art when we can't protect it ourselves .

Also when you buy a painting of course its all yours but the artist always retains full copyright unless you have an agreement . I am always giving permission for my art to be used for my clients and happy to etc . What i don't like is when they wanna print without permission as i am a fine artist and not a commercial one with a huge print presence . Never wanted that life just wanna paint original works of art for you and never wanna have to be concerned about the word BRAND or BRANDING .etc 

Its also for the clients protection as well imagine your horror and mine to see a very crappy version of a ballerina in print the same pose and everything as the one you brought . For the record you will never see my ballerinas in print ever .They are so unique with the iconic one eyes and everyone ,has had one of my models pose for it . So yes i might rant but its all to protect my art and your beloved STARR painting . Thank you to all my followers and clients who over the years have alerted me to infringements i thank you from the bottom of my heart .x

So please LIKE and SHARE artists works when they have our websites and names watermarked across them we love you for that x 

ps this is just my view and i do not speak for other artist at all .