Fake Painting

Viktor Vekselberg, one of the world’s richest men, paid £1.7 million for Odalisque, a nude said to be the work of Russian artist Boris Kustodiev.

The price was 10 times the pre-sale estimate and represented the “pure absurdity” of the art market, the court heard.

Soon after the purchase in 2005, experts working for Mr Vekselberg’s arts fund, Aurora, began to cast doubt on the picture’s authenticity. They claimed that Kustodiev’s signature, dated 1919, was done in an aluminium-based pigment not available until after the artist’s death in 1927.

Read the whole story here.

Callanish Stone Circle

Callanish Stone Circle (Clachan Chalanais), Isle of Lewis, Outer Hebrides, Scotland

My favorite stone circle on the planet - even more spectacular than Stonehenge and a lot harder to get to... I took a million photos from all angles and have done about 100 drawings as well, like the one below... sort of.

"Cross Stitch" or "Claire Beauchamp at the stone circle"
 c. 1991, charcoal and conte on paper 

The above 1991 drawing was done after I read a book titled "Cross Stitch" by Diana Gabaldon,  which is about time travel and stone circles.  At the time those were (and still are) two of my fave subjects! The circle is made up of a couple if real stone circles in Scotland,  heavily influenced by Callanish.