2 new paintings and turtle jail.

“New Hope #210″ – 9″ x 12″ – breast creasted

“Entropy #3″ – 12″ x 16″

Auctions and store items located here

Koopa kept getting in the way while Nes was assembling the new grill, so I placed an empty wicker laundry basket over him.  This basket was curved in shape and Koopa could have left freely at any time if he was smart enough to just look down…

“Entropy #2″

12″ x 16″ and heavily textured with a thick, clear gloss finish that adds another dimension.

10 day auction – wanna place a bid?

Another copycat…sigh

I’m just going to expose all copycats in the following manner from now on.  Click the photo to enlarge.  I may have accidentally Photoshopped it slightly.  My comments are in various shades of angry red.

This is from another one of her lovely auctions:

Here’s my proof of plagiarism:

My (original) originals can be found here.

New series – “Entropy” & 2 more ACEOs

“Entropy #1″

18″ x 24″ – tempera on canvas – 1st in series

“A Little Bit of Hope #63″ (breast-created) – ACEO

“A Little Bit of Hope #63″ (breast-created) – ACEO

Interested?

Black Pond 6/20/09

Stress, 2 new ACEOs, and “New Hope #211″

Nothing seems to be going my way, including the following…

1. I’ve had cold symptoms for almost two weeks

2. The economy has been devastating since autumn

3. The heat/humidity is making happiness, comfort, and varnishing impossible

4. Copycats are openly stealing my words & ideas, wasting my time

5.  My computer’s RAM is shot already

6. My truck’s O2 sensor needs replacing so it will pass next month’s emissions test

7.  Someone from my past (who caused the vast majority of my trust issues) needs a favor and I’m torn about what to do.

8. Dental pain

9. The letters on my keyboard are all worn away and I am constantly making typing mistakes.

I’m thankful for the positives, but come on!  Why all this at once?  It’s stress like this that convinces me I’m going to wind up in the loony bin.  If I didn’t have fishing as an outlet, I’d probably already be situated in my padded room.

“New Hope #211″

“A Little Bit of Hope #44″

“A Little Bit of Hope #62″

View my current offerings on eBay.

“New Hope #183″ & 2 ACEOs

As soon as I update these 3 paintings, I’m going fishing!  At 4 a.m.!

“New Hope #183″ – 18″ x 24″ – Black, white, sparkling silver & iridescent silver – bidding starts at $150.00.

“A Little Bit of  Hope” #60

“A Little Bit of  Hope” #61

Sorry about all that drama yesterday…I was already in a bad mood and nothing gets me riled up like a copycat.  I (justifiably!) handled it with a lot of anger because every detail of what I do – my passion, my business – is the result of years of teaching myself to express beauty in a method that was previously either thought of as kinky or breast cancer fundraising material (snowmen, traffic lights, olives, etc.)   In 2001 I decided to make body paintings classy & colorful, while developing my own distinctive style, which I did.   It was stolen swiftly and repeatedly.  I wanted my art to be unorthodox and intimate – 2 words which copycats love to steal from my listings & it drives me nuts because that’s MY description and those are the words that describe exactly what I wanted to convey…MY goals, stolen.  It never will stop, but I can at least try to educate collectors about how these parasites are misrepresenting themselves, and this takes a serious toll on professional artists.  Blatantly copying my ideas/styles/keywords/descriptions is a form of victimization that a lot of people probably haven’t experienced.  I feel violated every time it happens.  It isn’t “flattering” and I don’t think I’m being overly sensitive.  Something is just plain wrong with the morals of any individual who steals & takes credit for someone else’s work.  As someone with some pretty serious existing trust issues, I lose a little bit more faith in humanity (not a whole lot left.)

OK, enough chit-chat.  I’m going fishing…hopefully before anyone else does!

The Tonight Show link, Kymber saga update & plagiarism

The original link to the full episode of “The Tonight Show” that aired on 10/01/08 was deleted from Hulu, but a clip of the segment “Stuff We Found on eBay” (that featured me/one of my paintings) can be viewed here.

Also, out of curiosity, I Googled the following:

kira varszegi “The paint is applied directly to my breasts, which are then pressed onto the canvas.” OR “my work is fully documented, archived, signed & dated, and preserved to last many years.”

These are the results.  I think it’s pretty conclusive that I’ve been plagiarized.  Anyone want more proof? Kymber?  Need more proof?

If you’ve been paying attention to the cute little drama between me and COPYCAT Kimber Leigh Thomas (read earlier post) then here’s the next part of the exchange:

Kymber:   Q: yes and i will be reporting u for spamming!!!

My response: Spamming what? I’ve got no idea what you’re talking about. You word-for-word PLAGIARIZED my auction, misled readers about your artistic experience/integrity and now you’re threatening to report ME? LOL…You sure do have a lot of confidence! I sincerely hope eBay suspends your account forever. You violated eBay’s TOS and under no circumstances should you be able to get away with stealing words & ideas and claiming they’re your own! It’s just plain common courtesy/respect. You know I’m right.

This is turning into that Seinfeld episode with Kathy Griffin.  But that’s OK – it’s for a good cause.

ANOTHER copycat – PLEASE check this one out!

I’ve had enough.  I’ve been a professional artist who’s offered original breast paintings for 8 years (with moderate success.)  I’ve dealt with copycats many times before, and usually they self-destruct without too much participation required by me.

GEEZ LOUISE.

Generally the copycat has the common sense to change the wording around so my listing isn’t completely and obviously stolen.  Not Kymber Leigh Thomas: copycat, moron, & plagiarist extraordinaire.  The ONLY words she bothered to change was her name…I’m kind of surprised she got that right.  Here’s her listing – click to enlarge the shot if necessary:

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(sound familiar at all?)

The following photos are all taken from MY currently listed breast painting auctions.  These are MY WORDS, and I’m giving myself permission to post them!

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UGH.

I really hope her painting finds its way to me somehow, because I’d love to symbolically destroy it in a variety of different ways (and take pictures to post here. )  :-) If you’d like to support me or artist’s intellectual rights in general please send this copycat a message.  EDIT: auction pulled. She also listed a painting her cat painted using acrylics  -  I can’t tell the brand from the photos, but I’m going to assume they’re as cheap and toxic as she is, and I seriously doubt she took the time to have any testing done on them.  Hmm, what a coincidence regarding the animal painting too- wow!  For the record, I personally tested and researched every paint ingredient that has contacted the skin of both me & Koopa – for 4 months prior to use.

I’m concerned about the cat since the red looks like it may be cadmium red to me, which ANY REAL ARTIST knows causes cancer in both humans and animals.  If not cadmium, than it possibly contains lead or one of many toxic chemicals from cheap Chinese sources…no real artist uses those tiny paint tubes that come in a set of 12 or 18  (and a paper plate palette?) – come on!  Does anyone know what brand that is?

This chick has put herself and her cat at risk of getting cancer, all while destroying ANY CHANCE of an art career in the process.  I will make sure that her name brings up MY blog, MY art, MY auctions, and her non-artist/copycat status.  Guess what, #71?  You’ve been selected to take one for the team.  For too long REAL creative individuals have had to put up with money-hungry slimeballs like you, and I personally have had enough of it.  I have a COLLECTION of screenshots from copycat auctions like yours that go back for years.  If you can’t come up with your own words, methods, or styles then you are nothing but a parasite to artists everywhere.  BTW, nice photo you added – kept a nice screenshot of that for my file too.  You reek of professionalism.

I sent Kymber this message through eBay:

“Way to copy my listings WORD FOR WORD & pretend that you’re a real artist who paints in the same way I do – what a coincidence! I’m reporting you to eBay for stolen intellectual property, exposing you on my blog, and telling everyone I can reach to avoid copycat scum like you. I worked far too hard on my portfolio, listings and painting techniques for over 8 years to let ANOTHER random copycat (70 total) like you try to profit off any minor success I may have had. BTW, I only bid on your POS knockoff so you wouldn’t have a chance to revise your listing before I could expose you.   If I end up winning your trash, I will pay promptly and you can sign the front “Copycat Scum” REAL BIG & send it unwrapped with my address written directly on top of the paint in block-letter Sharpie. The postal system has more creativity than you and I hope they destroy your “original” “art.”  BTW, Google just proved you’re just another non-artist phony. -KAV”

I’ve since been outbid on her auction, but only after she apparently received my note.

View my ORIGINAL breast paintings (since 2001) and please support artist’s rights.

Tami’s portrait, “New Hope #205″ and a juried competition.

Tami’s portrait is finally finished, after I procrastinated for way longer than could be considered “reasonable.”  Thank you for your patience Tami!  This piece is based on my painting “Goddess Within.”  The tattoo literally took hours to get right since I’m not used to working with such detail in a tiny space.  It’s readable and easily recognizeable, so I’ll consider it a success.  Here’s a few pics:

HELP!

I entered 10 of my favorite breast paintings (mostly the ones in my eBay store) into an online juried competition at Projekt30.  The public is encouraged to vote – visit  http://www.projekt30.com/ and click on “Jury the July Exhibition” to get started.  Please note that you must give votes to at least 20 different artists for your votes to be recorded, and the artists will be presented randomly to each visitor.  Voting ends in 2 weeks.

The navigation is a bit weird – they use these >> arrows for scrolling through an artist’s works, and directly below that you can scroll between the artists.  Lots of great talent there, so I’m not feeling too confident about my chances.  I also submitted 10 of my digitally-manipulated industrial photographs to “Sanguine: The Temperament of Blood,” which is based on a theme of a sanguine temperament.  Read the prospectus of an exhibit to find out what the guidelines for submission are.    I’d recommend reading the Jurying FAQ if you have any questions about the process.  Obviously, I’d really, really appreciate a good rating.  I need some press in the worst way.  This whole obscurity for 6 years thing has gotten rather depressing.

“New Hope #205″ – 8″ x 10″

Auctions and store items located here

It’s well past my bedtime…got to run…busy day as soon as I wake up!