THE PROPOSITION

I received this email the other day marked:
Kind Attn: Dominic Bradnum / Ref: Assistant Artist - Artwork from Images / India
I just had to share it.

"Dear Dominic ,

Greetings from India.

I would like to introduce myself as xxxxx xxxxxx from xxxxxxxx, India.
I am an artist making paintings in Oil on Canvas and Acrylic. I can
also provide services in water color on paper, pastels on paper,
ceramics, sculptures, wood, textiles, rugs, metal handicrafts,
embroidery, and reliefs from designs/images as per your instruction.

I specialize in making art from images.

I am in no way infringing, copying, or competing with you as you are
a renowned and a well off artists and I am just an artist making my
livelihood out of it in a far off country thousand of kilometers away
from your country. Moreover, I will be working for you in making more
paintings/art which you can offer to your customers and sell more
and become the best and most sought after artist of your region
and add more creativity and variety in your offering, or in case of
time restraints.

To make you 100% sure of the quality work, I will be sending images of
the painting/artwork during different stages of its making so that any
difference in detailing, accuracy or color scheme could be worked out.
Any inputs from your side or me is properly communicated to give you
the best work. I assure you of hassle free working given an opportunity.

Kindly note I would like to work for you similarly as OLD MASTERS of
Yesteryears like Picasso, Van Gogh, etc. had assistant, the
only difference being they had studio assistant artists and I will be
your outsourced assistant. In this technology advanced world I can work
through images sent by you over Internet and e-mail or may be you
sending postcards and me making paintings out of it.

Further to it, I do understand you may have your own style which
may or may not suit my offering to you.

I assure you of good returns out of this association. Since you are
in the field of art, we can work as long term partners wherein I can
supply you with High Quality paintings / artworks from Images at very
competitive prices.

Sincerely look forward to hearing from your side.

Kind Regards,
xxxxx xxxxxx"

An intriguing proposition. Now I would hardly call myself a "a renowned and a well off artists [sic]", and I'm dubious that Van Gogh and Picasso had studio assistants, but it's intriguing nonetheless. I just need to put aside my pride in my work and my copyright hang-ups, and I could be flooding the market with a load of knock-off fakes/cover-versions of my paintings "at competitive prices". Maybe I could out-source all of my werk and create a whole army of Wednesday Painters, with copy-cat blogs - Wednesday Painter-ism, a whole new art movement.

I'll sleep on it.