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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

Original poster

Artist selling drawings of my house

529 replies

TechGinny · 07/09/2021 12:43

I've just discovered that an artist local to the area is selling drawings of my property on her website. It's not easily viewed by the road, which means she would have had to enter the land to draw it.

I'm feeling quite annoyed about this, as she has never made contact to ask permission.

AIBU unreasonable to feel like this, and would you make contact to ask her to remove it from her website?

OP posts:
Thread gallery
7
MyOtherProfile · 07/09/2021 13:28

I would feel uncomfortable too and would want to know how they got the view. I wouldn't mind them selling a picture of my house (although it would have been courteous of them to tell you and perhaps offer you a copy).

HarrietsChariot · 07/09/2021 13:31

I'm confused how it can be a notable house in the area if no images exist online and it's not visible from the road. Almost any property of note will surely have some kind of online footprint, even if it's just an ancient newspaper clipping from when the murder happened.

clarrylove · 07/09/2021 13:31

Perhaps she came up your path to knock on your door to discuss but you were out? Is that trespassing too?

Tilltheend99 · 07/09/2021 13:33

Hmm the fact that you think £40 for an art print is not worth it.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 07/09/2021 13:34

[quote Hdhdjejdj]@CuriousaboutSamphire, yes really. It feels like no big deal.
OP, I don’t know anything about the circumstances of your inheritance, but if you have had a lovely house in the family for a hundred years I would say you are quite fortunate. By the way, saying that doesn’t make me envious. It’s just a fact.[/quote]
I live in a house that a few photographers, artists sell images of, and local news pages often has a picture of it, amongst others, to advertise the town. I don't get annoyed by it because the house is directly on the street.

But if someone had to walk through a gate, into private property to get their image I would be annoyed. At their presumption more than anything.

I don't understand why that additional step, the encroachment, isn't being recognised, or even acknowledged, by some posters. It is that that makes a difference.

CuriousaboutSamphire · 07/09/2021 13:35

@clarrylove

Perhaps she came up your path to knock on your door to discuss but you were out? Is that trespassing too?
Don't be daft. You know why that isn't the point!
Jangle33 · 07/09/2021 13:36

I would be uncomfortable too, presume she might have drawn from a photo…? But nonetheless I’d expect her to have asked your permission to sell a photo (assuming you don’t live in Buckingham Palace where I think it’s prob fair game…)

Nanny0gg · 07/09/2021 13:37

@Tilltheend99

Hmm the fact that you think £40 for an art print is not worth it.
There's plenty of 'art' that isn't worth the money in someone's opinion.
Hdhdjejdj · 07/09/2021 13:38

There are loads of reasons why people could be on the property lawfully. Or maybe they did the painting from an image they had access to. In any event, I couldn’t get worked up about it. As long as there were no sinister reasons why the person was there this wouldn’t bother me in the same way a child coming into my garden to retrieve a football wouldn’t trouble me.

Original poster
TechGinny · 07/09/2021 13:38

Ok, put it this way - I can't find it through any Google searches, with multiple different search words. I'm sure there are images out there, but not easy to come across. If she's used an old image then fair enough, no issue there (even if I am weirded out at images of my family home being for sale, but that's just me).

It's notable in the area due to the family being a prominent family of the time, and memories local people have of the family and house. We aren't a notable family now at all, but there's enough of the older generation around to still remember, and it's a beautiful couple of houses, so people notice them.

Love the Latin inscription explanation 😂 That must have driven you bonkers, though!

OP posts:
Whammyyammy · 07/09/2021 13:39

Id be asking to buy it or a copy at least

Original poster
TechGinny · 07/09/2021 13:40

@clarrylove

Perhaps she came up your path to knock on your door to discuss but you were out? Is that trespassing too?
So you knock on a door to gain permission, can't gain it and so just sit in their garden and go ahead anyway? Hmm OK then.
OP posts:
woodfort · 07/09/2021 13:40

@Blossomandbee

Are they just using it as an example of their work? I'm wondering why they would choose your house to draw and sell, and why would anyone buy a drawing of someone else's house?
I don’t find it that odd but then where I live there are a lot of Georgian and early Victorian houses and I’ve seen quite a lot of them in artwork locally and online. I probably wouldn’t go out of the way to buy a drawing of one particular house but I would happily buy one of some specific roads that have come to mean a lot to me because they are close by and I’ve walked them a lot in lockdown / on the school run etc. I’m sure there are millions of pieces of art drawn from specific chocolate box cottages in the Cotswolds for instance.
Hdhdjejdj · 07/09/2021 13:40

What does ‘notable’ family mean?

Original poster
TechGinny · 07/09/2021 13:41

@Tilltheend99

Hmm the fact that you think £40 for an art print is not worth it.
Yep, that was exactly my point...
OP posts:
ManifestDestinee · 07/09/2021 13:42

Nobody needs your permission to draw your house. You have no proof or trespass, or any particular reason to think that.

There is no issue here.

AlvinSimonTheo · 07/09/2021 13:43

"So you knock on a door to gain permission, can't gain it and so just sit in their garden and go ahead anyway? OK then."

Why would she need to sit in the garden?

She'll have taken a photograph and worked from that. Maybe she had good reason to be there, she might be a postie or delivery person as her day job and thought, ooh, I'd like to draw this house so took a photo.

Nothing weird about that. Just leave it!

TarpaulinEyes · 07/09/2021 13:43

Posters on MN often say about how the owners of properties could be liable if a 'visitor' falls and injures themselves. What if the artist had set up an easel for an impromptu painting en plein air? She then fell over a mole hill on the lawn and broke her leg. What if the house owner's dog rushed over and savaged her, biting off her painting arm?

Seriously a courtesy call would have made all the difference. I hope she isn't selling the picture with your house name on. If so ask for it to be removed.

lottiegarbanzo · 07/09/2021 13:44

I think I'd say 'how lovely' and hope she gave me one as a goodwill gesture!

You could ask, politely and straight-faced, how she managed to get that particular perspective, then see what she says.

Pinkbonbon · 07/09/2021 13:47

Wouldn't bother me in the slightest, especially considering it's a woman artist. Good on her for displaying resourcefulness and talent I say. But I'd maybe ask her for a cheeky discount on a print considering she was a little cheeky sneaking onto my land.

Seriously think some people aught to be ashamed of themselves banding about words like 'court' and 'copyright'. In times where people are struggling to survive and earn a living, we should seek to lift our fellow man up, not bring them down.

That being said, if say, a guard dog had attacked her on the property she trespassed on or she had got hurt in some other way, it may have caused problems. That would be a concern. I'd ask her to get permission from me for any future visits in advance.

eekbumbler · 07/09/2021 13:47

Are you Bilbo Baggins?

I'd buy a pic and be very jealous of your house.

Seriously though, I would hack into her website and edit her images to show people shagging in the windows.

kt12mum · 07/09/2021 13:48

I agree OP this would make me feel uncomfortable and like an invasion of privacy esp if you're property can't be viewed from the street.

Coogee · 07/09/2021 13:48

A picture of my house was used on a council brochure promoting the area to tourists. I wasn’t asked. I didn’t mind.

The artist could have been working from a photo, not necessarily taken while the OP was in residence (assuming she hasn’t lived there since it was built).

NewlyGranny · 07/09/2021 13:48

I wouldn't use the word uncomfortable as it might sound as if your feelings are just hurt, when actually you are laying down a legal challenge.

I would use the word concerned instead, and ask them to establish exactly how they came to view your house from that angle without trespassing on your property.

You could reasonably say that, had you been approached, you might well have granted permission and ask why that courtesy had not been extended to you. After all, you are living in a private home, not a NT property!

CuriousaboutSamphire · 07/09/2021 13:48

@TarpaulinEyes

Posters on MN often say about how the owners of properties could be liable if a 'visitor' falls and injures themselves. What if the artist had set up an easel for an impromptu painting en plein air? She then fell over a mole hill on the lawn and broke her leg. What if the house owner's dog rushed over and savaged her, biting off her painting arm?

Seriously a courtesy call would have made all the difference. I hope she isn't selling the picture with your house name on. If so ask for it to be removed.

Photos of mine are being sold with the house name. I even rang the photographer and corrected his spelling.

If the name plaque is visible on the street, and that's the point of them, then that is all legal too.

The point is "visible from the street".

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