Stolen Art

Hey, I have a complaint about stolen art. I placed eleven shadow books with the artist C. Jordan at her local gallery - Jordan Art Gallery. In May of this year, I managed to get 8 books back. She claimed she would like to keep my other three books on display because of their themes - Texas Cowboy, In-DuST-Ria, and Bubba's Fishin' Shack. Ms. Jordan also commissioned me to do two Harley Davidson/motorcycle shadow books that she could take to the Harley Davidson rallies where she was asked to display and sell her retail line of various items, such as, ladies clothing. I accepted the commission without a contract because Ms. Jordan is a renown international artist and, I thought, trustworthy. I was born and raised in Texas. I grew up believing that a verbal agreement is as solid as a paper contract, just like a handshake on a deal.

I finished three HD/motorcycle shadow books in July, and called and emailed Ms Jordan repeatedly to set up an appointment with her at the Jordan Art Gallery. No answer at the gallery, nor were there any replies to my emails. In mid August, someone answered the phone at the gallery, and I immediately wanted to speak with Ms Jordan. I also wanted to know what was going on with the gallery being closed. The representative at the gallery informed me that the Jordan Art Gallery was officially closing. I told the young woman that I was an artist with art pieces in the gallery, and would like to come by and pick them up. I also explained about the motorcycle shadow books. The rep told me over the phone that she could only find two of my last three shadow books on the displays. I arranged to come by the next day, to pick up those two pieces, and that we would have to search for my third piece.

I arrived the next day. The rep and I searched the gallery without disturbing boxes that had already been sealed. I told her that Ms. Jordan needed to find my piece - Texas Cowboy, and return it to me as soon as possible. If she could not find it, then I would expect a receipt of sale with the buyer's information along with my part of the commission of the retail price that the piece was sold for. I was told by the rep, who I understood is a family member of Ms. Jordan's, that she would call Ms Jordan and ask her about the last art piece.

When I came back to the gallery, the rep told me that Ms. Jordan claimed I had already picked up Texas Cowboy. I informed her that I did not pick up the piece. The rep called Ms. Jordan again. The rep told me that C. Jordan would contact me soon about the item. After several weeks with more emails sent to Ms. Jordan, still no reply and no contact and no Texas Cowboy shadow book and no payment. I can't believe that a renown artist would take advantage of an artist just getting established. My mistake was trusting the Jordan Art Gallery and its owners and representatives. I moved from the city to this rural area 20 years ago, and have come too comfortable with trusting others. I guess I need to let the "city girl" out when I need to deal with people in business. I should have trusted my intuition when it came to contracting with the renown international artist who left me with a "bad impression" when I had my first appointment to drop off my art pieces. Also, no one informed me about the closing of the Jordan Art Gallery - no phone call, no letter, and no email. The owners were closing without notifying some of the artists. I was just lucky to have someone answer the gallery phone in mid August, or I would not have found out about it. I would have had 3 stolen pieces instead of just one, but Texas Cowboy is one of my best pieces.

There's more to this story, but maybe I'll tell the rest of it later. Now, how do I get back my Texas Cowboy shadow book?
Any suggestions?

DM Submissions

Hello, Everyone. I have been sort of in the "slumps" the past few weeks, but I am pulling myself back up again. I got a lead on doing DM cover art submissions. I did four 8x10 watercolors which are on the home page of my website. I will submit them tonight. I have no idea how a DM cover is suppose to look like even after all the research I did online. It's just a submission so all they can say is "no, thank you". Hey, I still own my original art work. I can improve my future cover art and resubmit to the DM website or submit to a few other DM websites.

Got a short instructional book in the works. More work to do on the project though. I will be taking the photos as each step is finished in the book. My youngest daughter is my hand model in the photos for the steps, so pics, so far, are great!

I also have new watercolor/acrylic painting idea projects. After a little more research, I will get started on those too.

Have a scary Halloween!
sgsartworks