A new gmail phishing scam

I was targeted today by a new gmail update phishing scam - or at least it's new to me.

• I'm going to reproduce the email I was sent below 
• PLUS the links to the Google pages which can help you understand the scam and report it to Google

This is the email (in blue). I've highlighted the email header in full (and deleted my gmail address!).

A new £15,000 prize for portrait painting

The Royal Society of Portrait Painters have announced a new £15,000 prize for portrait painting. You have just three months to paint a submission!

• The prize will be called "Conversations". 
• The intention is that it focuses on portraits involving more than one person.

£15,000 for the best work interpreting the theme of a conversation piece, including two or more figures.

• It's sponsored by 7IM, an investment management business.

I'm absolutely cockahoop! I'm very keen on the introduction of a significant prize which recognises the skill required to create an effective portrait involving more than one person.

To this end I've been lobbying quietly behind the scenes with "people who matter" for the last 2-3 years to try and make this happen. To say I'm pleased is very much an understatement!

My rationale was that very many of the great paintings of the past involved groups of people and yet, when you view portrait paintings today, too often they are portraits of individuals. It's as if everybody lived in a world on their own and interaction never took place or wasn't important.

I also believe that this is a particularly important form of portrait painting as a significant number of private commissions for portraits involve more than one person. Hence creating interesting and effective portraits of multiple figures ought to be a skill acquired by every practising professional portrait painter.

I think those artists who may well edge ahead in this competition will be those who ponder on how interaction in contemporary life might best be represented in their portrait paintings for this prize. The sort of painter who reflects on how we talk with one another today and who bring the conversation piece paintings of artists like Zoffany bang up to date.

"Conversations" - Call for Entries

Who can enter

Any artist over the age of 18 years of age. There is no limitation on where the artist lives or works.

What can you enter

The new prize aims to inspire new paintings which depict and encourage interaction. This is defined as

the winning work (will be) a scene of two or more figures interacting, with each other and/or with the viewer

Another word for this might be "a conversation piece" however there are different ways of interpreting what this might mean in today's society.

The sponsors commented

“We are very pleased to be supporting the Royal Society of Portrait Painters and sponsoring The ‘Conversations’ Prize. The team at 7IM and the RP artists both have a huge interest in people’s conversations. From conversations we get to understand people, what drives them and what makes them happy; artists use this insight to express their understanding in a way that connects with the viewer; we use that insight to make sure we manage our clients’ capital to meet their needs..” Conversations are at the heart of everything we do, with our clients and for our clients, so it seems very fitting to be sponsoring this prize.”

Justin Urquhart Stewart, 7IM

Note that (drawings? and ) paintings can be in any media but should not be bigger than 2.4m along the longest dimension

Timeline

• Online submission opened on Monday 6th October 2014
• the Deadline for submissions is 9 January 2015, 12 noon
• Notification of pre-selection: Friday 16 January (You need to Log in on to see if your work has been pre-selected)
• Receiving Day (if pre-selected only): Saturday 14 February, 10am - 5pm
• Notification of acceptance: Tuesday 17 February, from 2pm

How to enter

• Entry is via registration and the submission of a digital file at registrationmallgalleries.org.uk
• Overseas artists should make a point of reading the note about how VAT operates in relation to artists domiciled outside the UK
• For full terms and conditions, click here.

Entry fee

Entry fees vary according to the age of the artist:

• Submission fee £15 per work 
• or £10 for artists aged 35 or under

Exhibition

The new prize will form an important part of the suite of prizes linked to the prestigious annual exhibition of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters. All the shortlisted works will be exhibited alongside the works selected for the Royal Society of Portrait Painters Annual Exhibition at the Mall Galleries, London in April 2015.

“We hope to attract some very interesting works, offering artists the challenges of a complex piece.”

Robin Lee-Hall

An important US Tax Court Ruling for all US artists

This is about a particularly important tax ruling in the USA. It affects in particular all artists who are also teachers. Most particularly it affects all those who earn more from their teaching than they do from their art.

This is a judgement to file away in your tax files!

The "Hobby Loss" Rule: Section 183 – Activities not engaged in for profit

The "Hobby Loss" rule is explained precisely in an IRS document Is Your Hobby a For-Profit Endeavor? FS-2008-23, June 2008

Is your hobby really an activity engaged in for profit?
In general, taxpayers may deduct ordinary and necessary expenses for conducting a trade or business or for the production of income. Trade or business activities and activities engaged in for the production of income are activities engaged in for profit.

and 

An activity is presumed for profit if it makes a profit in at least three of the last five tax years, including the current year

The basic principle is that you must be actively engaged in seeking to make a profit to be treated as somebody who can claim business expenses.

The tests used to assess whether or not an activity might be deemed to be a hobby are as follows

1. Does the time and effort put into the activity indicate an intention to make a profit?
2. Do you depend on income from the activity?
3. If there are losses, are they due to circumstances beyond your control or did they occur in the start-up phase of the business?
4. Have you changed methods of operation to improve profitability?
5. Do you have the knowledge needed to carry on the activity as a successful business?
6. Have you made a profit in similar activities in the past?
7. Does the activity make a profit in some years?
8. Do you expect to make a profit in the future from the appreciation of assets used in the activity?

This is a useful checklist for all those planning to claim business expenses for their artistic practice  on their tax returns.

Susan Crile, Petitioner v.Commissioner of Internal Revenue, Respondent

US Tax Court Building

The United States Tax Court has ruled that an artist who is a teacher is not a hobby artist.

The contention of the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) was that the artist was not really an artist so much as somebody who practiced art as a requirement of her job. Thus her claim to business expenses for her artistic practice should really have been filed as unreimbursed employee expenses.

First, he contends that petitioner’s activity as an artist is “an activity not engaged in for profit” within the meaning of section 183 and hence that she cannot claim deductions in excess of the income she derived from that activity.

This falls within the notion that hobby artists are not allowed to claim business expenses if they don't try to sell their work and don't make a profit.  In other words business expenses can only really be claimed by those who can demonstrate that they run a business and act in a business-like way.

The contention of the IRS was that the artist had underpaid tax because her main occupation was as an art teacher and not an artist - and that her art was practiced purely because it was a job requirement.

That's when we learn that the artist in question - a New York painter and printmaker called Susan Crile can be summarised as follows:

• a painter and printmaker who has been exhibiting since 1971
• an artist who has work in the collections of a large number of museums - including the Metropolitan Museum of Art
• an artist who has received two awards from the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) 
• a Professor of Studio Art at Hunter College, CUNY, New York, NY
• an artist who earned an average annual income from her art of around $16,000 between 1971 and 2013

Fortunately, the Tax Court saw sense and ruled that she could indeed claim business expenses for her artistic practice which has been sustained over a period of many years and predates her current employment position as a Professor of Art!

The important rulings by the Tax Court are that

• the separation of Crile's activities as a Professor of Art and a practising artist was NOT an artificial distinction. 
• the right for a practising artist to claim an income tax deduction on expenses related to status as a professional artist is not jeopardised by low sales or any other full time employment (which in this case happened to be teaching).

However it did NOT indicate that an artist who perennially makes losses would not be treated as a hobby artist - that's a different issue.

As indicated in the New York Times article

Judge Albert G. Lauber of the tax court ruled Thursday that Ms. Crile had “met her burden of proving that in carrying on her activity as an artist, she had an actual and honest objective of making a profit” and therefore under tax law should be considered a professional artist.

This is the transcript of the hearing.

Here are some articles about the case. They make a good job of summarising the situation so I don't propose to go into more detail in this blog post

• New York Times - Tax Court Ruling Is Seen as a Victory for Artists
• Forbes - Tax Court Judge Appreciates Art More Than Your Average Revenue Agent
• Hyperallergic - Judge Overturns IRS on Artist Tax Deductions
• Art Forum - Tax Court Rules in Favor of Artists

Do artists ever retire?

I'd be retired now if I hadn't already retired early. Having a BIG birthday makes me want to reflect on how I want my retirement to be.

Plus I've been looking around at what has already been said about artists and retirement

I thought it might be helpful for me to do a bit of research and also write down my conclusions so far.

There's also an invitation at the end - at the end of the section on "Do artists retire?" which invites you to comment.

My retirement

A new perspective on being older.
Note I've only got the odd grey hair
and not a lot of wrinkles in this selfie from
the 72nd floor of The Shard.
Can I really be this old?

I had a splendid birthday on my BIG Birthday Day Out.

We started at Tate Britain with the new exhibition about Turner - Late Turner - Paintings Set free.

Interestingly this focuses on the themes, approaches adopted and created after the age of 60.

However the exhibition starts by pointing out that

Turner turned 60 in 1835, an age then regarded as marking the onset of senility

My other half pointed this out to me with a big beam on his face. I giggled.

However as I wandered through room after room of oil paintings and watercolour paintings and sketchbooks by Turner I began to feel a little overwhelmed by what it is possible to do after 60!

My current thinking is that I approached my early retirement pretty much as another project in a career that had always involved lots of hard work and some very long hours.

The perennial comment about this blog has always been one of amazement at how I fit it all in. My traditional riposte has been I'm not that fond of housework! The reality is that it takes a lot of time.

However my big birthday and my recent health scare means I'm now beginning to think I'd like to slow down a bit and exercise more and take more time out to reflect and ponder. I'd also like to make more art and maybe write some more about art and artists in publications rather than blogs - to my own timetable rather than dictated by a publisher. (I learned a lot when writing my book earlier this year - and writing to somebody else's timetable isn't a process I propose to go through again in a hurry).

I'd certainly like to spend some time documenting what I've learned in the last few years.

To that end the current thinking is there will be fewer blog posts in the future although I will certainly keep this blog going, will still visit exhibition and cover art competitions - but I'll also be taking more breaks and spending more time on my art and on reading my art books and writing my own books. Plus more time dedicated to being with "he who must not be bored while I sketch", taking exercise and staying mobile on my awful feet - plus moving home. Library and studio wanted with house attached!

I certainly no longer feel the need to post every day or even five days a week!

Do artists ever retire?

We have numerous examples of famous artists who have continued to paint up until their death.  See if how many painters you can name who were still painting up the end! (Leave your answers below!)

I've also met many artists whose artwork only started to flourish after they retired on the basis this was the first time they had the time and the space to work in a dedicated way.

• Here's a portrait of an alumna beginning her "real work" in retirement posted by Emily Carr University of Art + Design

I've also seen some completely dire artwork produced by senior members of art societies who are still allowed to submit their six works as a member irrespective of the fact that it would never be selected if entered via the open selection process. I've also seen some intelligent moves by some art societies to move towards different arrangements for exhibition and selection for its senior members - and how nice they can do this in a way which continues to pay homage to the seniority of their members.

Articles about artists and retirement

Here are some articles about artists and retirement - and the notion that they never do - plus commentary from me

Jonathan Jones of the The Guardian wrote an article about artists and retirement called Real artists never retire – or do they? He comments on:

• how it can take a lifetime for an artist to learn all the skills
• having acquired the skills you can then work with total freedom
• the prevalence of "late styles" amongst artists
• the fact that some did their most brilliant work in later life

In this article, Barring fate or death, artists are not the retiring types Allan Massie comments on the reasons why artists often fail to stop unless prevented by a health issue. However one wonders whether he is pandering to the conventional notion that artists never retire and never want to retire.

The gallerist Edward Winkleman started an interesting open thread back in 2011 on the topic of Retiring as an Artist | Open Thread. He took the Jonathan Jones article as his starting point and comments that while it may be reassuring to have dealings with somebody who has had the time to learn a lot, nobody expects other professionals to keep working past their retirement date.

The comments he received suggested a very wide variety of perspectives - which certainly suggests that the traditional notion might be true for some but certainly not everybody:

• people who suggested that artists' later works are often the best they ever produce
• queries about whether artists can ever afford to retire (fortunately not an issue which applies to me)
• how a creative activity will always continue when it is aligned with an internal impulse to create
• a wish that some of the artists who have made it big would retire to give others a chance to sell their work!
• being an artist can mean you put yourself under horrendous pressure to produce and sell art - it's very tiring!
• the traditional identity of "the real artist" can be enormously inhibiting to the notion of being able to give up or slow down
• some artists who have worked really hard for 50 years would like permission to slow down
• for some artists means not having to produce art to sell and not having to any more exhibitions

It also includes more than the odd comment which made my hackles rise - so be forewarned if you your main income or pension relates or has related to non-artistic endeavours.

Alan Bamberger (ArtBusiness.com) has a thread about your art as your pension pot. The Benefits of Saving Art - Someday It'll be Your Retirement Fund...and Maybe More

Many artists simply use the proceeds from the sales of saved works to support themselves once they slow down or stop making art altogether.

This highlights how:

• artists should never get rid of their art
• art collectors value the work of successful artists - even the early stuff!
• not everybody wants your latest creations
• you can't do a retrospective without example of your artwork from across the years

A debate website has an ongoing debate about Should famous artists ever retire? - 57% say No!

So what do you think?

• Should artists retire?
• Can artists ever retire?
• Is retirement when you can begin to let go and do what you want to do in terms of creating art?

and finally......

Here's an article about a decorator who painted other people's homes all his life - and decided to do something significant after he retired - Retired decorator paints his house to look like the Sistine Chapel... and he even gives his wheelie bin a Renaissance look

The Big Draw month is October

The Big Draw is the world's biggest drawing festival and is run by the Campaign for Drawing. It's also an annual event which takes place in October each year in UK - and 20 countries around the world.

The Big Draw is Local and International!

The festival runs from 1 October to 2 November across the UK and in 20 other countries, with 280,000 people expected to join in over 1000+ events.

The general aim is to get everybody drawing.

The Big Draw encourages wide-scale public participation in creative activities, engaging people of all ages with collections in museums and galleries, heritage environments and community-based drawing activities.Campaign for Drawing

It's for everybody young or old, those who are learning how to draw for the first time and for those who have forgotten how to draw - as well as those who enjoy drawing on a regular basis.

It got started last Sunday with a big event for kids at the Museum of Childhood in Bethnal Green sponsored by Faber Castell.  Lots of coloured pencils much in evidence!

Find an event

The events seem to get more adventurous and more innovative every year!

To find out more about what opportunities are local to you you should consult

EITHER The Big Draw Map of UK events - just stick your post code in the map and it will tell you what's happening near to you.

Locations of Big Draw Events in the UK this month

Here's some examples which are happening in London:

• Experimenting with observational drawing, algorithms and natural form - at the Natural History Museum for those aged 16+
• 'Strike a Pose' is a life drawing workshop for all ages featuring black superhero costumes presented at Notting Hill Carnival by Glorious Backstage Arts.
• Draw Walthamstow this weekend for all ages - supported by Jackson Arts

I must confess I do miss the listings they used to have which split out the events for adults from those for kids only, and those which were limited to people associated with a location. I'm not finding it do easy to locate events I might be interested in this year.

A Big Draw event at the V&A

OR The Big Draw Map of International Events there are events happening in:

• Australia
• Belgium
• Brazil
• Hungary
• Netherlands
• New Zealand
• Spain and 
• United States

You can also

• Add your drawings to our online gallery. Just tag #TheBigDraw via instagram
• Check out The Big Draw Blog for articles on all things drawing
• Share you drawings on Twitter

The Theme for 2014 - It's Our World

The theme of The Big Draw in 2014 is It’s Our World - click the link to find out more. Plus there's an absolutely amazing and very stimulating It's Your Wold MiniMag on Issuu which explains more and provides some suggestions about how 4-19 year olds can participate. You can get a pin code for uploading via a Big Draw event location.

The aim it to encourage everyone to celebrate their environment – rural, urban or coastal – and to explore its sustainability. 

The Big Draw on the Beach - creating land art

Anyone aged 4 – 19 years is invited to put themselves on the map by creating an artwork to celebrate where they live and uploading it onto the It’s Our World Gallery. The aim is to create the UK’s largest online collection of artwork mapping the British Isles, as seen through the eyes of the nation’s future custodians.It's Our World - Celebrating the Environment through art

Hence there's a chance to have their art displayed nationwide in next year's World Environment Day.

The uploaded artwork will be showcased in June 2015 on digital ad screens across the UK. The entire collection will be handed over to The UK Web Archives to be stored for the nation.

Submissions can be sent  from 30 September 2014 to 30 May 2015

• This is part of a wider initiative developed by Business in the Community. 
• These images will be shown on digital screens nationwide next year to celebrate UN World Environment Day (5 June 2015).

The Family Arts Festival

Over the UK half term holidays (between 17 October - 2 November), a collaboration between the Big Draw and the Family Arts Campaign will be supporting the second year of the UK's largest Family Arts Festival. 

There are also The Drawing Inspiration Awards which aim to recognise the most innovative, resourceful and inspiring events from The Big Draw.