ATTENTION Artists! Protect your Rights!

I write this post to hopefully help other illustrators and artists protect their rights and avoid an excruciating, exhausting, stressful, and expensive divorce experience. I also hope to educate and enlighten illustrators and artists of all walks of life: sculptors, photographers, poets, wood workers, novelists, and jewelers alike. If it came out of your mind, and onto a canvas, a piece of paper, or a lump of clay, you are an artist, and you have rights. And your soon-to-be ex-spouse has rights, too, and which he or she might flex, unless you are protected.

Here therefore is a cold and harsh legal reality:

>>ARTWORK CREATED BEFORE MARRIAGE IS SEPARATE PROPERTY. Artwork created before marriage is Separate and belongs to artist alone, and it's value and royalties are not subject to division in a divorce.
>>ARTWORK CREATED DURING MARRIAGE IS JOINT PROPERTY. Artwork created during marriage is considered Joint Property, and it's value and royalties are considered as assets owned by both parties and are subject to division by both the artist AND the artist's spouse in a divorce. Royalties may be subject to division, even going forward, in perpetuity. (Suck!)

You may think or you may have thought that everything you created is yours alone during your marriage. Nope. You may own the copyright (if you haven't sold it or bequeathed it), but the physical or intangible piece of art created during marriage is jointly owned under the law (depending on your state). This may not make sense, and it may not seem fair, but unfortunately, this is the truth.

To re-iterate and expand on this: You may have created the paintings. They all may have come out of your mind, hands, eyes, and your body. You may have pushed the paint, alone. You may have done the research, alone. You  may have done the marketing, alone. You may have wrote and/or illustrated your books....alone! You may have taken a blank canvas or piece of paper and created a piece of art each day...on...your...own. But, should you face divorce, you may find yourself asking your attorney: "How in the world can they claim half of the worth of my work if I was the only one to pick up a paint brush? I did all the work. I pushed the paint. I invested my time and energy. How is this possible?"

You may have devoted 30+ years to your career. You may have created hundreds, or thousands, of pieces of art. You may love your job and find it beyond fulfilling and rewarding....it might be very important to you.

None of that will matter. You will likely be told, "the law is not emotional, the law is the law." The law does not distinguish between a painting or an afghan. In the face of the law, any work of art created during a marriage is considered joint property and the opposing could demand half of the art's worth and half of any royalties. Period. (To prevent this scenario, please see Part 2). Praying this won't happen doesn't prevent it from happening. Divorce has a way of bringing out the pitbull in certain people: they just get mean and nasty, and they will not care about your feelings or your future. So, brace yourself for the worst.

Your worst nightmare might come true.... the opposing party and their lawyer might do exactly that: go after what you thought was yours alone. Why? Your art has value. Adding value to your assets could whittle down any settlement by using the value of your art against you.

This reality might gut you. But, you will likely be told to comply to all requests by the opposing, otherwise a judge (if it comes to that) might see you as "un-cooperative" and that would not bode well.

This said, here now are warnings to every artist and illustrator out there. Please read carefully. This list might scare you into taking preventative measures, and therefore save you a lot of money, heartache, and pain.
IF YOU DO NOT HAVE AN AGREEMENT IN PLACE TO PROTECT YOUR ART, ITS VALUE, AND ANY ROYALTIES YOU GENERATE FROM LICENSING, YOU MIGHT HAVE TO ENDURE THE FOLLOWING:

1. You might have to make all of your joint artwork available for appraisal.
2. You might have to endure an appraisal by an unqualified AOA appraiser.
3. You might have to hand over copies of your contracts––even if they are out-of-date and protected by confidentiality clauses––which, if they don't have confidentiality clauses, will have to be protected by the court.
4. You might have to provide any and all correspondences, emails, and invoices.
5. Your spouse might lift information and/or copies of your stock list, and/or your for sale list, from your website to use as a spring board of valuation of your work.
6. The unqualified appraiser might use a blog (a BLOG) as basis of valuation of your prints made from your art, even if the blog art looks nothing like yours.
7. The appraiser might also used other illustrators who's work is not in any way similar to your work to valuate your work, without even talking to the other illustrators.
8. You might have to endure a financial evaluation (which you will have to pay for).
9. You might have to hire your separate appraiser, or a qualified AAA, ASA, ISA appraiser to disqualify the unqualified appraisal (which you will have to pay for).
10. You might have to give up half of the value of your artwork, and half of any royalties you earn from that artwork.

Sound like fun? NOT!
That said, you will survive the divorce experience. You will get on the other side of divorce, re-create your life, pick up where you left off, and create new art!! That will be YOURS!
Coming soon in Part 2 of this post: How to Protect Yourself, and your Art.

Peace! - Val

Ocracoke Strong!

Anyone who knows me, knows how much I love Ocracoke. I started visiting this glorious island 20 years ago with my then very young sons. They are grown and on their own now, but we still make our way to Ocracoke every summer to spend precious family time together. The experiences they had there helped them become the men they are today! There is no other place like Ocracoke...

The community of Ocracoke is strong and tight-knit that is accustomed to weather events ranging from thunder storms to major hurricanes. However, Hurricane Dorian dealt a blow unknown since the 1940s. On September 6, 2019, this storm blew a 7-foot storm surge across the island that inundated homes, businesses, and infrastructure. No body on the island was spared in Dorian’s wake. The reports coming from the island are heart breaking.

 

While the storm pummeled Ocracoke, I was stuck far away, and unable to help in any way except in notes of support. When the storm moved on, I wanted to help my friends dig out from under the rubble. But that wasn't possible either. I felt pretty darned helpless and worthless. Then, I remembered! While fishing with my friend, Norman, he said in passing, "You need to get your fish on T-shirts."

Suddenly, I realized I wasn't frozen or unable to help. I called my friend, Candice, and told her about my epiphany. She  jumped on board and enlisted her friend, Mel, who runs Bread and Butter Screen Printing. Mel joined the team, and together we developed this fund-raising T-shirt. 

“Tight Lines, Tight Community” Hurricane Relief T-shirt features my original Red Drum illustration, and is professionally designed and produced by Bread and Butter Screen Printing.

Each durable shirt is custom made, on a high-quality 100% cotton Gilden T, and is available in Mint Green, Sky Blue, and Ash Gray. They will stand the test of time, and proudly show your support toward recovery!

100% of profits will go to the Outer Banks Community Foundation for Ocracoke hurricane relief.

Check out their great work at https://www.obcf.org/

You can further help by making a direct donation, or order multiple shirts to share with your circle of friends and family who love or support Ocracoke.

Every little bit helps rebuild this special island.

“Tight Lines, Tight Community. Ocracoke Strong.”

Thank you for your support!

LIVE, LOVE, FISH!

Jessie Grove: A Tribute to a Great Lady

Jessie dressed to the nines for the most casual of family gatherings. 

Jessie Grove was born over 103 years ago. On June 22, 2019, Jessie left this world for another. Her life was extraordinary, exemplary, and full of joy, love, kindness, and laughter.

Jessie was known affectionately as "Grandmom" by her three grandchildren, her six great grandchildren, and her sons- and daughters-in-law––myself included. She was raised in Kansas and attended a one-room school house. Details of her childhood are, unfortunately, sparse. Jessie had one daughter––Betty––at a very young age. Times were economically challenging for Jessie. She was fortunate to have the support of a family in Detroit, Michigan, who offered to raise her daughter. Despite the distance, Jessie was devoted to her daughter and traveled extensively to see her. They remained very close for the duration of her life.

Jessie met and married Bob Grove and together they traveled the world. Their stops and journeys were marked with pins and threads on an antiqued plastic globe of the Earth. Bob was an entrepreneur, a military man who traveled in service, and a sheer wizard with tools. Bob and Jessie settled in Fort Meyers, Florida, and enjoyed a life full of work, friends, and fishing. Some time around 1986, Bob and Jessie retired from Florida and moved into a country house surrounded by gardens in White Hall, Virginia. This location suited them well, as they were able to host and partake of regular lunches, dinners, and holidays with their growing family of great grandchildren.

Bob and Jessie Gove in their Fort Meyers heyday!

Jessie and Bob downsized again in a move to University Village, in Charlottesville, Virginia. Bob and Jessie were not deterred by condo living and continued with their outdoor pursuits. They built a water feature complete with plants and goldfish for all the residents to enjoy. They also built a garden below their balcony, fed the hummingbirds, made many many friends. Bob also built –– by hand! –– a fanciful playhouse out in Free Union, VA, for family friends. It stands today as a fine remembrance of his handiwork.

Granddaddy Grove and Grandmom with their second great grandchild, Drew.

Granddaddy Grove and Grandmom with their fourth great grandchild, Dave.

Bob passed away around 20 years ago. Jessie, in her characteristic way, lived on always with a cheerful, positive, and kind manner. She often talked of and joked about Bob as if he were sitting next to her. Her stories flew from her memory with clarity and warmth. Jessie was not one for regret, sorrow, or remorse. Jessie did not have a mean, spiteful, angry, or bitter bone in her body. Jessie was always kind, loving, gentle, sweet, and super funny. She never, ever complained, and she never left the house without lipstick on! Jessie was cheerful to her core and always quick to laugh.

Grandmon at Grandparent's Day with her great grandson, Dave (and me).

Jessie eventually fell and wound up in the hospital. Although she longed to live independently as she alway had, she moved into assisted living without complaint. She continued to share in family dinners and was visited often by her clan of grandchildren and great grandchildren.

Jessie Grove was a fine lady full of grace, charm, warmth, and kindness. She lived a long, prosperous, and full life. Jessie loved well and was well loved in return.

Godspeed, Grandmom!

Jessie's 101 birthday celebration with all her adoring friends and family.

Storm Surge - Part 2

A friend of mine described this phenomenon on Currituck Sound after a hurricane blew through the Outer Banks of North Carolina. His description was eerie. This video makes hurricane force clear.

Here is the original Facebook post:

Long Island, Bahamas ! There is no more ocean ! As far as the eye can see . And they don't know where it went ! Wow .... Irma is more powerful than people think ! Be safe guys . 🙏🏼🙏🏼🙏🏼 P.S. This is not me filming ..... Update: Long Island has the all clear .. The sea is gradually coming back! Praise God....



Meanwhile, in the Florida Keys:

Migration

Image by Mike Laptew ©

The Earth is flush with many spectacular rituals and phenomena. Think: mass coral spawning, Northern lights, phosphorescence.

Migrations have always intrigued me. When a Rubythroat Hummingbird recently showed up at my front porch looking for the jar of nectar I keep hanging each summer, I thought: "Holy COW! That little bird came all the way from MEXICO and REMEMBERED how to get back to this very spot in VIRGINIA!" I quickly prepared a new batch of nectar, hung it on the porch, and sure enough, the little bird returned again.

Fish migrations are another source of wonder. Think about it: Salmonids hatch in rivers (sometimes miles upstream), move offshore, and return to the very same stream to spawn as adults. American Eels make the opposite migration.... adults spawn somewhere in the Sargasso Sea, and their offspring move inshore and upstream until maturity. Other fish migrations remain a mystery. To this day, no one knows for sure where Great White Sharks spawn, or really why they travel such long and seemingly random distances.

Shads (collectively called "River Herring") are anadromous and a vitally important link in the food web. They used to have unimpeded pathways to their spawning grounds. When the rivers they traveled were dammed, their numbers plummeted. Aside from the dams and natural predators, they also had to overcome pollution, siltation, water withdrawal, and over-fishing. Today, some of those dams have come down, and other dams have been modified to include fish ladders. It's been proven that once a dam comes down, the fishes return almost immediately! Amazing.... An internal GPS and a drive to reproduce is hard-wired into the fish's DNA and cannot be suppressed, even by a dam.

 *****

The beautiful photo above was taken by Mike Laptew of Laptew Productions. His images document the gorgeous and often overlooked diversity of fresh and salt water wildlife, both above and below the surface. Take a look here to see more.

Rewards

A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes by Val Kells & Kent Carpenter

I work long hours. Sometimes from 6am to 8 or 9pm. As I write this, it's 8:33pm.
Why? The answer is complicated and would take up more space than this post affords :)
In short, I'm driven. And:
One: I LOVE my work.
Two: I love the people I work with.
Three: I love what we accomplish together.
Four: I get to help other people do their work.
Five: (and this is most important)... my work spreads... it grows... it multiplies.

What I did five years ago is helping someone right now! Or, someone five years from now.

It's cool.

Here is something I came across by accident that rewards my efforts, and also propels me to continue. Scroll down to References :)

WILDERNESS CLASSROOM: NURSE SHARK

Cheers, Val

The Fish Cave

The Fish Cave (aka: my office)

Life in the Fish Cave has been something of a pressure cooker. I've had little time to think about anything other than illustrating and therefore, no time to post. Work has ramped up in the past year and I'm currently producing a new poster and three new books:
A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes - from Alaska to California, Tunas and Billfishes of the World, and Florida Saltwater Fish ID.
We recently published Gulf of Mexico Saltwater Fish ID.
The first two books in the list have competing 2015 deadlines. And while I can see the light at the end of the tunnel, I also foresee very little wiggle room! For the next ~12 months, my days and weekends will be filled with work work work, research, painting, planning, copy editing, designing.... Don't get me wrong, I actually LOVE working! Producing something tangible, meaningful, lasting, and educational is tremendously rewarding.
That said, my neglect of this little space became too much to ignore.
My Mom mentioned how much she liked reading this blog. Friends have repeatedly told me they worry about my lack of 'balance'. My husband complains that I spend too much time working.
So, I've made a promise to post something fun, interesting, or thought-provoking at least once per week. While this entry may not fall under any of those catagories, it at least marks my re-entry.
Cheers!

Ripples into Waves

I received this photo today from Dr. Donald Orth who teaches Ichthyology at Virginia Tech.
Needless to say, it made my day... week... month! It's tremendously rewarding to see my work help others with their work. These terrific students are the future!

It will remind me why I invested 5.5 years into A Field Guide to Coastal Fishes - from Maine to Texas, any why I'm investing another 4 into its Pacific counterpart. It will also serve as big motivation to keep on illustrating, to stay focused, and to remember the big picture:

Conservation, education, preservation.

Virginia Tech Ichthyology

Fishy Friends

I have lots of cool friends. Many share my fish-geeky tendencies, others do not. Yet those who do not still have an appreciation for my passion, just as I have an appreciation for theirs. That's what friends do! They get behind each other, cheer, commiserate, and share the challenges, failures, and successes.
Even though I may never go fishing with some of my friends, it doesn't matter... and never will.

This is my friend Carlin. I've known her for over 25 years. We are very different, but very alike. We both love nature. We both love our families. We're both sensitive and creative. Neither of us cares about high-falutin' cocktail parties or pretentious fund-raisers - we'd rather wear our torn blue jeans and make an anonymous donation. We're comfortable in our own skin. I know who I am, she knows who she is, and we don't worry about impressing.

Carlin has more energy than a hurricane and is busier than a damselfish. She owns one of the most original, successful, and eclectic shops in town: C&A Camp. She poured her soul into making just so. It reflects her unique blend of whit and diversity. It oozes with enthusiam, as does she.

When she got ahold of my book she flipped her lid. It struck her in her heart. She saw the passion I'd poured into it. And true to form, she had to share it with her close core of passionate compatriots. So she bought a box full of books and found some time to meet me so we could personalize them before she sent them off to places far and wide.

Here she sits in her make-shift office writing heart-felt notes in my heart-wrent book. God bless her.

One of my mini goals is to get her into a boat with me and take her fishing. It will probably never come to pass, but that's OK. We are bound by deeper ties.

Teacher and Student

If you are a parent, you are a teacher. If you are a son or daughter, you are your parent's student. How we parents teach our children reflects upon us. But more importantly, how we teach our children will effect the world around them in the years to come, and long after they leave our nests.

When I first taught my boys to fish I emphasized respect, care, and stewardship above catching fish. To this day, they treat wildlife with deep reverence.

When I came across this video, I was ecstatic! Great to see another parent teaching the same important foundations. These two clearly had a great time together bonding over a stingray... But really? What a terrific role model this dad is -- and what a great role model his son will become. I hope it goes viral.

Open Letter to my Sons

Pluto.
By way of explanation, we have a cat named Pluto who has been with us for over 17 years. We adopted him from our local SPCA. Family stories about Pluto's escapades are too numerous to recount. In the simplest terms, he is a part of our colorful family fabric.

Recently, he's begun to decline. Blindness has set in on top of recurring ear issues. Antibiotics help his ears, but only to stave off dizziness. He's almost completely deaf. His remaining senses are smell, and touch. If he walks straight, he walks straight into. If he walks abreast, his whiskers signal him to turn. Corners trap him completely -- so when he gives up, he sits and stares into nowhere.

As we approach the end of our relationship with him in this life, I want to keep my sons abreast of developments. They have known, loved, and helped me care for Pluto since he came into our lives. But they are both away at school, and I am in my office with Pluto as my charge. And, this cat has been my ever-present companion. For many many years, he made homes in the cubby holes among my shelves of artwork. He chased the shadows of birds feeding at my windows. He meowed to get into my attic, and I waited for his meows to get out... But I digress...

Open letter to my sons:

Pluto is doing really well, considering.

After much thought, I've realized much of my fear was not about how he is - he seems OK. He's not sick sick, and besides weak kidneys, he's just disabled! I was afraid I couldn't take care of him. But, how would I know if I didn't try???? It's going to take some effort, but that's part of the deal when you adopt a pet. You're in it for the long haul...

So, after a couple of weeks of his blindness and deafness, we seem to be figuring it out. He gives signals, I read the signals and try to give him what he's asking for. Loud MMMOOOOW! may mean he wants to go out, or he's just lost. After he eats, he sometimes likes to have some water. So, if he can't find the bowl, I take him there and put his paws on the rim. He realizes he's at the bowl, and either tests it with his paw, or begins to drink. Fascinating.

He had challenging potty visits to the mulch beds today. RAIN! He did not like that. And I did not like the cold. But, whatever...

This afternoon I went to visit Tory and Bill, and left Pluto asleep on the couch. I'd checked all the doors, including the cat door. When I got back, I couldn't find him!! Freak out! I turned on all the lights and searched every crevice. He was No Where. I thought, 'No way he's in my office.' But, lo and behold, there he was, curled up and asleep on my floor. How the HECK did he find his way up there??? Who knows. He seemed happy.

Then later, he went down the stairs on his own (!), but after bumping his way around the fish room he decided he'd had enough and started to meow. I rescued him; took him outside; he did his business; then found his way to the dog bed and licked himself in front of the fire.

I've ordered Dad NOT to leave Pluto outside by himself. Fingers crossed.

See attached pic of Pluto in my office.

Love you guys. Be good!

XXOO, Mom