Art Scam: Abraham Lubelski NY Arts Magazine

This blog is designed to help prevent aspiring artists out there being exploited by money making scams promising valuable exposure at a high cost.

ARTISTS: Do not pay large sums upfront for your work to be shown.

This is the e-mail I received today from Abraham Lubelski:

Senders email: abraham.lubelski@nyartsbeijing.com

Dear Scott,

I am pleased to inform you of an exciting opportunity to join an international publicity program based in New York City as well as exhibition in Broadway Gallery in SoHo, New York City.

My name is Abraham Lubelski, the publisher of New York Arts Magazine, and owner of The Broadway Gallery in NYC. I would like to invite you to join our publicity program that includes an exhibition in New York City in January 2012. I am interested in your work "Storm Cloud Study" and I believe it would be an important addition to our program. The brushstrokes dance and glide across the canvas, producing a palpable energy. The contrast between the grey and teal is sharp and creates a strong ambiance. By paying close attention to the intuitive works of each artist, we are hoping to construct an exhibition of works that truly speaks to our viewers and subscribers.

With this program you will get one year of publicity, full page in NY Arts Magazine (sold worldwide in major bookstores), an exhibition in the heart of NYC, in Broadway Gallery, a spread in Art Fair International Newsletter along with a year subscription, for a cost of $1,900. This is a media driven event and offers both emerging and established artists the broadest media coverage possible.

Abraham Lubelski
Publisher
NY Arts Magazine
abraham.lubelski@nyartsbeijing.com
473 Broadway, 7th floor, NY, NY 10013 | 212-274-8993

$1900!
After much research online, I am now satisfied that this is an outrageous scam.
Here's a link to a blog by artist Helen Ansell who seems to have done plenty research on this chap.

http://www.helenansell.com/_blog/Blog/post/World_Art_Media_and_NYArts_magazine_a_scam!!/

Unfortunately it appears he's still at it nearly 3 years later.

The New Blurb Book of Paintings from Scott Naismith

Scottish Landscape Painting by Scott Naismith | Make Your Own Book

My New book is titled 'Scottish Landscape Painting' and depicts a selection of work completed between 2009 and 2011. Alongside these images are a selection of my 'instagram' shots. Instagram is a photo sharing app for the iphone. I use instagram to document daily activities around the studio, in galleries and on location. In the book you are able to get not only great full colour images of the final paintings themselves, but an insight into my sketchbook work, inspirational photographs from my travels, and work in progress shots from the studio.

I would recommend Blurb books to anyone looking to record colour images in a book format. Their print to order method means books will be more expensive than 'off the shelf', but they're still surprisingly affordable for the quality. This latest one of mine retails at around £27 for softcover and £34.50 for hardback. The book is 7 inch square and its 120 pages are printed on premium paper and full colour.

You can get a virtual look at 15 of the pages using the widget above.

Limited copies of the book will be available at the preview of my Solo exhibition in Hamilton on the 30th September

Solo Exhibition 2011: Catalogue Complete

My catalogue is now complete for this year's solo exhibition at Ian Kenny Gallery.

While its not even sent to the printers yet, I can reveal the designs here on my blog!

Follow me on Facebook and twitter for more about the exhibition.

Big Cartel Shop

I recently blogged about my new miniature oil on board paintings. Now, I am happy to say that I now have an online store available from my website powered by the artists' online store 'Big Cartel'.

Here's the link:

ONLINE STORE

At any time there will be a selection of unframed oil on board paintings available exclusively from the studio. They are easy to deliver unframed so shipping is free to the UK and free for more than 1 item worldwide.

Check my previous blog post for an idea of how to frame it up when it arrives!

The Expanding Miniature oil painting collection.

Since the European network of Galleries, 'Carré D'Artistes' contacted me interested in my work, I have been producing a collection of small oils on board. I've been happy with the results and have generated lots of ideas for bigger paintings to emerge later on. Normally I wouldn't sell my small working sketches which normally don't leave the sketchbook. This means I'm usually very free and experimental not worried about them being too polished, so I'm trying to keep that freedom and life to them even though these will be going to galleries.

It's great to be able to offer original work at such an affordable price. The sizes and prices will be as follows:

10cm £59

15cm £98

20cm £162

30cm £298

I took my first 2 10cm square studies to my framer Ian Kenny in Hamilton. The Images at the top show what a great job he did. I told him to frame it to the best standard he could, so he used:

Gallery-gold frame : Archivally shadow-float mounted : Hand painted bevel detail : Museum grade uv Waterwhite glass

The little studies, once framed, came in at £195 and both sold to a quick customer the same day.

So the popularity of these studies does mean that some will end up in my usual Scottish outlets. So nip in, choose a frame for it and take it home for an affordable price. Alternatively you could pick one up online by checking my facebook page (link on the border of this blog). Just leave me a note on the image you like and I'll reply with a link to a buying page and have it delivered unframed at no extra cost!

I'll be sending out a tweet when work is delivered to the galleries, so make sure to follow @scottnaismith or check my twitter feed on the home page of my website.

Paisley Artists Live Demonstration

Here's the video showing my Demo from March and subsequent completion in the studio of 'Light Emerges, Tiree':

LIGHT EMERGES

Small Oil Painting Studies on Board

Recently I've been working on small oil studies. I have previously worked on work like this in sketchbooks, but thought it might be nice to offer these for sale on a more durable acid free conservation grade board.

These studies are really idea generators which can be painted in situ, en plein air. My work receives a lot of interest from a large audience who are not able to afford a larger canvas. These little studies will allow my work to reach those with a budget as little as £95. They can later be framed or just stored as a collectable item. Also, being light and easy to send, the postage is free to all, making it more available to a worldwide market.

There will be updates on the blog and my website when complete work becomes available.

sizes will be as follows:

10cm, 15cm, 20cm and 30cm square

Speed Painting Oil and Copic sketch Demonstration: Goat Fell, Arran Scotland

Oil Painting demonstration of latest Scottish Landscape painting of the Isle of Arran: 'Goat Fell'.

This one shows some sketchbook drawing work using Copic markers.

Please subscribe to my youtube channel for lots more videos.

Sketch and Alla Prima Oil Painting: Old Man of Storr, Skye

Oil Painting demonstration of latest Scottish Landscape painting: 'Old Man of Storr'.

This one shows some sketchbook drawing work using Copic markers

Tailcast Interview

I was recently asked to do an interview for the tailcast.com website (about to be changed to 'createtoday'. Here's a couple of the questions and answers:

What inspires you in your work ?

Final works are completed in my home studio in Glasgow. The rest of my time is spent travelling around the country looking for inspiration in the Scottish landscape. The many lochs, glens and isles of the West coast provide this inspiration for my vibrant and atmospheric oils.

Skies have become an integral part of my work. The weather changes quickly in Scotland’s Western Isles and there’s nothing better than seeing adverse weather conditions clearing as the sun casts new light. These moments of transitional skies are what my current work is about. The emerging light acts as a metaphor for hope and optimism appropriate for for someone 14 weeks into fatherhood! With a big interest in colour play and colour theory, this subject matter also interests me for it’s warm/cool colour contrasts.

Any tips for budding artists / illustrators / photographers ?

I think an unshakeable belief in yourself is necessary to achieve success. Being very critical of your own work and being able to take criticism well is a key part of this.

It’s all about confidence. Confidence is self perpetuating: If you are confident, it translates well in your work which in turn breeds confidence in the next work you do.

I suppose the key would be to stay confident. If your confidence wavers, it can often mean the avoidance of producing anything at all, like writers’ block. You would then need a strategy to get the confidence back. For an artist it might be to begin a new painting with no planning at all with your biggest roller, palette knives or brushes and just improvise and see where it takes you. Challenging yourself is a great way to a feeling of achievement and ultimately renewed confidence.