Well, as usual we’ve been rushed off our feet here and if I wasn’t in desperate need of a coffee break this wouldn’t be getting written at all.  As you may have noticed, on www.artistsuk.co.uk we are committed to dispatching all orders for delivery within the UK in time for Christmas and we hope to maintain this right up to 23rd December with last orders being delivered on Christmas Eve.  Obviously, overseas customers will now need to contact us for courier rates if they want to stand any chance of getting their goodies by Christmas.  My guess is we’ll definitely have to switch off the guarantee to dispatch in time for Christmas for delivery within the UK before the 26th December because Bruno’s project to develop a time machine still hasn’t borne fruit.  Apparently, the hamster keeps falling off the treadwheel or something 

We recently got an email via Artists UK Dotnet from a French lady complaining about Château des Réaux (see other plentiful previous posts and comments on Château des Réaux !).  It runs as follows:-

Désolée de répondre en français! Je suis également une “victime” de Château des Réaux. Je ne conteste pas le prix bas qui a été proposé, puisque je l’ai accepté. Cependant il était prévu une exposition au château des Réaux et dans d’autres lieux similaires en échange de l’abandon des droits annexes. Puisque l’exposition n’a pas eu lieu, ne peut-on contester les droits annexes ?

This translates into English for our non-French speakers as follows -

Sorry to reply in French! I am also a “victim” of Chateau des Reaux. I do not deny the low price that has been proposed, since I have accepted it. However, it was anticipated that there would be exposure at the Chateau des Reaux and other similar places in exchange for the abandonment of the ancillary rights. Since this exposure has not occurred, can we challenge the ancillary rights?

Hmmm, I think the answer is probably not.  The whole point of the controversy over this “offer” was that the artist signs away any right to be associated with their original artwork for what, to most artists, is considered a pitance.  Since, by the terms of their contract, Château des Réaux do not seem obliged to credit the artist at all, I’m not quite sure what kind of exposure at Château des Réaux or elsewhere would be of benefit to the artist anyway.  Wasn’t the final verdict on Château des Réaux something along the lines of “avoid Château des Réaux unless you are totally desperate to sell a painting” or were we misreading the range of comments we received?

Of course we’ve been sucked in to Tim Kring’s HEROES like everybody else - HEROES Season 1, HEROES Season 2 and HEROES Season 3 … and an excellent ride it has been too!  Here’s what we learned about art from watching HEROES:

1. You can’t draw or paint until your eyes go white.
2. Drugs are useful even if they are made from dung.
3. Everything in the comics comes true.
4. Just coz you’ve drawn it don’t mean you can stop it (Oh wots dis in your back?).
5. It is a dangerous business! If you are a good guy artist you probably get the top of your head cut off or fully decapitated.
6. Good artists with a big stick don’t die, they come back as spirit guides.

So; the final conclusion from HEROES :

Go work for Marvel, be a bad guy with a big stick and take loads of drugs full of dung.

We’re not totally sure Tim had that in mind though