Parma Ham

Have just returned from Palma, Majorca. A fine city and once you get passed the main streets, very inspiring (ask Picasso, who lived there). Perhaps more on that later. However while visiting the hugely impressive cathedral, I walked around the grounds. There were several "artists", all of which, on the face of it, were very talented. One or two appeared to be putting the final touches to their work. But..........on closer inspection, it became clear to me that these were in fact black and white photos printed on canvass which the artist (?) coloured in with thin oil paint, adding texture with thicker paint. Several tourists were in attendance and I saw at least three sales (20 Euros each, which is a clue in its self). A stroll around the corner and there was another artist doing much the same, pallet and brush in hand, giving the illusion that the artist was actually producing the work there and then. Most of the paintings were in fact identical to the previous artist! A scam if ever I saw one, and I was rather annoyed that people were fooled into thinking they were buying an "original". Anyone have an opinion on this?