Copy Cat!

I have a lot of books on my studio shelves by artists who share their techniques and personal artistic style. I am inspired by their work, try to learn from their methods, and also try hard to be sure that nothing I create too closely resembles the work of those artists who inspire me. My cyber-friend and artist Debbie Fecher has given me great advice in this arena. As a result, I tend to move slowly and cautiously when in a creative mode inspired by someone else. It's important that my work is just that, my work. I try to pause and really think about what I'm doing and avoid becoming a lazy copy cat.


Tonight I was reminded that more "artists" should pause before they make something and then pass it off as their own. I visited a website today that referenced a blog, and that blog listed a few others...you know how you can get lost stumbling from one to another and lose all track of time. The last blog that I viewed had a photo of a table set up for a show/sale and had artwork on it that looked exactly like that of Kelly Rae Roberts, an artist whose instructional book "Taking Flight" I bought and read cover to cover and highly recommend. I thought this tabletop shop was hers and tried to figure out where she was selling, hoping I might be able to see some of her original work if it were nearby. It appears that this particular blog author must have attended a workshop conducted by Kelly Rae or read "Taking Flight," and had generated a large amount of artwork that was so similar as to appear to be copies of Ms. Robert's work. This was the blogger's sale table and there was no reference to Kelly Rae Roberts at all. I then took a peek at the blogger's Etsy site and found more of "her" art for sale that appeared to be more copies of Ms. Robert's work. Shame, shame, shame.

I would rather move slowly and struggle to produce original work with integrity than to copy another artist's work and not only pass it off as my own, but sell it with my name on it. Ms. Robert's has explained in her book and on her own blog what she views as "not okay." This includes replicating her paintings or designs and selling them as the new creator's own work. Someone has clearly missed that part of the book, blog or class and stepped over the line big time. Shame on her.