Its pretty simple. Just use a Qtip soaked in rubbing alcohol.(or solvent).Rub away a small 1 x 1 cm patch in a small corner with least interest so as to do as little damage as possible. If there is paint it will come off easily on the qtip. Now keep going to the canvas layer. If you reach a digital print it will be a different colour hue and you will see it under good light as it wont come off on the qtip. Work a larger area if needed for proof.

“She says she used polycotton canvas so the color won’t bleed like on a cotton canvas so this helps with the details.”

To me this statement is a dead giveaway that she is simply painting over a cheap digital print on canvas. This would explain the use of a sponge so as not to disturb the layer of dye ink (as opposed to pigment ink, which costs more). Oil paint will not “bleed” on a gessoed cotton canvas, which is its proper support, but cheap prints on canvas will bleed because the canvas is not gessoed. IOW, not only is it not an original oil painting (because she is simply duplicating previous work) but it is paint over dye ink, which is cheap and fades and is not archival. So yes, baloney.

As for testing, if it is varnished, it will be difficult to test. Probably I would look at the sides and see if the canvas is gessoed. If it isn’t, it is bogus. If it’s one of those where the print runs over the edges and it is varnished on the sides, I think you are SOL.

If it is not varnished, dye inks are usually pretty easy to damage with water or alcohol. Pigment inks can be removed with ammonia.

I have printed a lot of prints, and one thing I would do myself is see how it smells. Printer ink has a distinct smell that is not like watercolor or oils.

Yeah it is really unethical. No professional watercolor artist works on canvas (that i know of), nor are watercolors varnished. They have to be framed behind glass. Anyone painting at that skill level (for lack of a better term) would be speaking and charging very differently. Oils and watercolor use completely different materials. It makes no sense. Im really glad you decided to check it out. Good luck!

Thank you guys. I didn’t think her process made any sense especially the sponge brushes. I appreciate your help. I have a “watercolor” in hand but not an “oil” yet. Will the solvent process work on it? Does it just remove the paint and not the print? I think she did treat it with varnish. She stated she treats it prior to shipping. I may just take it to someone local to look at. It’s not really the money. I just hate to be lied too. I asked from the beginning if it was a digital print.

As i mentioned its easy to test. The print is dyed. The solvent/alcohol will remove the oil and varnish and leave the print.If the paint is thick you can scrape with a palette knife to help.

This is not by itself a giveaway that they are not hand painted. I know of several professional watercolorists who paint on regular canvas, special watercolor canvas and gesso covered panels, as well as quite a few who varnish their watercolors on paper or other surfaces, myself included from time to time. None of them I have looked at frame the varnished watercolors behind glass but rather present them in an open frame, just the same as oil paintings.

Yes, I too know such watercolorists, and they are not bogus.

One thing I would add is that I think the “oil paint” is probably acrylic, because it would stick to anything.

Also, poly-cotton is exactly what POD places use as a support for their prints on canvas. In contrast, when you buy poly canvases or stuff to make canvases with from an art supply house, it is 100% poly, not a blend. This is a point of honor with canvas manufacturers; I noticed one well-known canvas company get pretty angry when it was implied that their poly canvases were blends.

Originally Posted by contumacious
This is not by itself a giveaway that they are not hand painted. I know of several professional watercolorists who paint on regular canvas, special watercolor canvas and gesso covered panels, as well as quite a few who varnish their watercolors on paper or other surfaces, myself included from time to time. None of them I have looked at frame the varnished watercolors behind glass but rather present them in an open frame, just the same as oil paintings.

This is good to know, thanks.

I don’t know much about watercolor but I do know about oil paintings and especially highly detailed realism in oil paintings – you can click on my name here at WC and check my past WIP threads of my paintings, if you’d like:)

I’d eat my own shorts if either of the paintings in post #11 is a hand-painted oil painting: I assume the second is the supposed ‘oil’ painting. My reasons for my opinion:

Absolutely uniform surface. Not even a hint of a brushstroke. Zero sign of blending, paint application, nothing but a slight eggshell-like texture everywhere, complete uniformity.

The #1 reason I don’t think this is hand-painted? Absolutely ZERO dust anywhere. Dust is impossible to keep out or eliminate from a painting; whether it was done in an afternoon or it took a year to complete.

However it was done, it isn’t even very good, IMHO. Areas are painted (printed?) too soft without detail (hair, ear), the corner of the eye looks strange and what’s going on with the corner of the mouth?

I think this person is bull$hitting you, sorry to say.