New Painting

We went to a "starving artist" sale in downtown today. It was kind of interesting, kind of odd. There were lots of styles, but it left us wondering how they get the paintings? They are real paintings with real canvas and real paint. One lady explained that she thought they were from art students who had an objective to paint their take on a classic. Anyway, we got 2 paintings and they were really cheap. This is the first new one that is in our living room where the Celtic crosses used to hang.

We really liked the 3d effect that the paint makes on the tree, it's much better in person than in the photograph. We bought a smaller painting for the newly remodeled bathroom, it seems to fit in really well, here it is...a nice Venice scene:

There was a little bit of controversy though. I really liked a painting for our bedroom, but Bridget wasn't 100% sold. We went back and forth and couldn't agree on it. So who won? Bridget of course, so we just bought the 2 paintings.

If anybody has any insight about these "starving artist" sales let me know. Are they a bad thing? Are these rip off's of classics? Are these made by poor kids in China who shoot the canvas with a paint gun or something? None of the artwork was signed which leads me to think something was up.