A dear friend of mine and I were together a few weeks ago, eating something, and there were some really pretty napkins on the table. We both said, “Wow, that is so pretty”, or something to that effect. She is a jokester, someone with a sense of humor that makes me laugh at the dumbest things. She popped off with, “You can paint that for me!” That is an outrageous thing to say, and it made me laugh.
So, I did, knowing my equally impulsive and outrageous response would make her laugh.
Copyright law says that if the original artist can recognize her work, it doesn’t matter if you change it 10% (that used to be a common but wrong myth).
My excuses are: 1. I changed the scene some; 2. The artist’s name is not on the paper napkin; 3. I am not profiting from it.
Excuses made. I started on a rainy Sunday afternoon at the dining room table, tickled about how surprised my friend would be.
Then I had real jobs to do, custom art with deadlines to meet, so it just went into the Later Pile for awhile. After I finished those jobs with the tight deadlines, I wanted some more fun. Working with these bright colors qualifies as fun in my little world.
The fruits on the napkin are grocery store food; around here in the Land of Fruits and Nuts, California’s Flyover Country where no one knows about us and no one cares, WE FEED THE WORLD! We have pomegranates, persimmons, stone fruit (my friend’s favorite are plums), and of course citrus. 
I worked from my own fruits, both real and photos, of which I have a huge stack from when little canvases of fruits sold steadily at those boutiques and festivals.
Here it is freshly finished, drying on the wall in the painting workshop. I like mine better than the one on the napkin.
I don’t know if I should even sign this. Is a fruit basket generic and universal enough, along with my tighter and brighter style, that this can qualify as my art?? Did I break the law? Would the original artist care? Do I care when people do this to my work?
Too many questions.
My friend is thrilled with her new painting, and I am too.
4 Comments
It is beautiful! I agree with you, yours is better. San Joaquin Valley better. 🙂
Thank you, Nancy. I agree, our produce is The Best.
I love love love this! Love the bright colors as well as the subject. Of course you should sign it…. it’s your spin on the topic. And I agree that it looks much better than the napkin!!! I think it’s amazing that you can transform a blank canvas that way.
Anne, with enough layers, rotating the canvas to see it at different angles, mixing my colors from the primaries, drawing with my paintbrush – I can paint almost anything. No portraits, and not nearly as perfect as with pencils, but it is good to feel my confidence growing. Thank you for loving it enough to validate my work with your lovely comment!
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