Fraud!

Remember how excited I was about acquiring my first piece of original art? Well, it turns out there’s nothing original about it at all.

It’s a fake. A fraud. A con. The 70-year-old woman who painted it isn’t a real artist. She’s a scam artist!

At least three different people emailed me to tell me my proud new painting was actually a copy of one of those cheesy email forwards that have been circulating for years.

Yes, that’s right. I am the owner of a painting that was inspired by an email forward.

Let’s review the embarrassing evidence. Here is my painting:


And here is the photograph it was modeled on:


I was shocked and appalled. For about a minute. And then the over-the-top ridiculousness of the situation hit me.

Think about it. Some elderly lady got this photo in her inbox. She thought it was funny. She liked it so much that she recreated it on canvas. She named it “Warrior Mouse.” And then she sold it to my unsuspecting dad for $50. Who does that?

I have to grudgingly admit that it makes me like the painting that much more. In a so-bad-it’s-good kind of way, of course.