Artists Beware

 Over the last decade of being an artist, scammers have tried to get the best of me in many different ways. They try to form a connection and get the conversation to the point of talking about money. That closing chapter is very familiar and I've been fortunate to escape the situation before suffering financially. Each time I tell them that I know they are trying to scam me, they instantly scram, fearful that somehow I could report them to the authorities.

A lady we shall call Michelle reached out a number of days ago, wanting to get a dog portrait done. 

"Are you in the US?" she asked. "Because I am in Edmonton, Alberta."

"No worries," I replied. "I'm in Alberta, too. Shipping will be super easy."

She sent over a beautiful picture of a german shepherd and an email address. I would get the shipping address when the painting was done. Seemed perfectly normal to me.

"When should I expect to hear back from you?" she asked.

"Oh, it won't be long. A few days."

I spent Friday working on the portrait of "Rex" and sent her a picture.

A positive response and we started talking about payment arrangements. Because she kept referring to me as "Dear", my spidey senses started tingling. I thought at this point that she might be a elderly person and continued trying to sort out the money stuff. Then she replied with this.

I knew immediately that she was scammer and wrote the same back to her. She disappeared immediately.

As I realized I had spent a full day of painting on a painting for a scammer, I started laughing. There was no point getting upset with something that was beyond my control. I shared what happened on my social media with a tongue and cheek message about looking for the owner of this dog. Someone answered the call, but it wasn't what I expected.

Anna saw the post and sent me a note saying that the dog (supposedly Rex) was a spitting image of her german shepherd that she had back in her twenties. She decided to buy the painting. We have decided to donate the sale proceeds to the Fort McMurray SPCA. Something that started out bad turned into something good. Another person is buying a print of the painting as a Christmas gift and the profits will also be donated to the SPCA.