Setting the Record Straight: The Truth Behind the Return of BlotterArt.com & Paul Guest's Blotter Art Legacy

Who Was Paul "monkey" Guest?

Paul first began producing blotter art in the year 2000 working closely with John Blackburn an American blotter art manufacturer and then owner of BlotterArt.com.

Paul later started his own company in the UK trading as Blotter Art Limited since 2007.

In 2010, Paul bought the established BlotterArt.com website & manufacturing equipment from Blackburn and imported the machinery to the UK to start producing his own blotter art sheets in bulk.

Since 2010 Paul continued to grow his business and community, manufacturing some of the highest quality blotter art sheets worldwide this continued until his tragic passing in 2021 at age 58.

Unfortunately Paul died suddenly and without a will, this led to many issues after his death and I will discuss many of them in this article.

Who I Am & Why am I Writing This?

My name is Adam Booth, I am the owner of BlotterStore.com and new owner of the famous BlotterArt.com website.

I wanted to make the purchase of BlotterArt.com entirely separate from BlotterStore.com for a number of reasons but that seems like it may be impossible now so I wanted to write a message to address some of the things that have been said regarding the purchase of BlotterArt.com and the death of Paul Guest.

A few other manufacturers in the community have made some allegations regarding… well almost everything about the relaunch of BlotterArt.com but I’m going to confirm some details and address the most serious allegations that have been made against me.

What Paul Left Behind

At the time of his passing Paul had roughly 60,000 blotter art sheets in stock, + an unimaginable private blotter art collection. Paul owned 2 large printing presses he used to manufacture blotter art and multiple domain names including the high valued BlotterArt.com

The BlotterArt.com Domain Name

Shortly after Paul’s passing some allegations were made against Maria Snow a lady who was working for Paul at the time of his passing, Paul’s close family said that she had stolen money from Paul’s business and also updated the bank account details on Paul’s Etsy and possibly eBay account to her own, in an attempt to steal more funds.

The BlotterArt.com domain name was also transferred from Paul’s account around this time, this is widely believed to have been stolen by her.

The BlotterArt.com domain name lay dormant until February 2026, it was not renewed in 2026 and was later sold at auction by the web host GoDaddy. The domain name was purchased by me alone, for just over $15,000 including taxes and auction fees.

One of the first things I did after buying the domain name was contact Paul’s brother Tony Guest to let him know that I had won the auction and the payment was sent to GoDaddy Auctions, this was to give him some assurance the thief who stole the domain name did not get those funds. I chatted with Tony for a few hours about Paul life and the sale of his brothers business back in 2021/22.

The Sale And Theft of Paul Guest's Business

Tony who is not involved in the blotter art community made me aware that when he sold Paul’s business, consisting of his entire stock, private collection and manufacturers equipment, that this deal had gone bad and he was never paid for the majority of Paul’s stock & private collection.

Tony had an agreement with 2 people to buy the stock, equipment and collection for a mere £20,000 ($27,000) despite some of the individual sheets from Paul’s collection being valued at $10,000 per sheet. (eg signed Hofmann sheets of which Paul owned multiple.)

The agreement was made with:

Lucifer Svard (the owner of Blotter Art UK & long time collector)

Rob Mark Wilson (also known as Resist Tyranny on Facebook)

Erwan Martineau, Lucifer's business partner and the owner of Blotter Art France, is said to have introduced Lucifer and Rob, suggesting they work together to purchase Paul’s business.

Lucifer approached Tony claiming to be a good friend of Paul, with knowledge and experience in the blotter art world, Paul’s elderly brother Tony, made a verbal agreement with Lucifer & Rob for them to purchase Paul’s entire stock, collection and manufacturing equipment for just £20,000 as he had no understanding of it's true worth. More unfortunately, no contracts or official documents were signed, this deal was based on trust.

Tony never met with Lucifer or Rob directly, the stock and private collection were collected from Paul’s warehouse over multiple days by Rob & Lucifer, this was handled by Kevin, Paul's life long closest friend & highly trusted by Tony. Kevin was Paul's closest friend and handled the entire handover of stock and equipment, he also cleared Paul's home and handled most of Paul's affaires after he passed.

Shortly after the stock and private collection had been collected, Lucifer & Rob had a disagreement and parted ways. With Lucifer claiming the majority of the stock and private collection were stolen by Rob.

Lucifer and Erwan both claim to have received serious threats from Rob, causing them to fear for their safety and leave their homes.

Shortly after this Lucifer collected Paul’s manufacturing equipment arranged again with Kevin, he continued to make small staggered payments to Tony totaling around £10,000, despite knowing the true value of Paul's stock and life long collection.

What Lucifer Told Tony VS What He Told the Public?

Lucifer claims to Tony that Paul’s equipment did not work, that he never used Paul’s equipment and that he placed the equipment directly into storage and then repurchased his own equipment after moving from the UK to Sweden due to the threats he received from Rob. Stating he felt ripped off by the entire deal.

From the 60,000 approximate sheets from Paul’s stock, Lucifer told Tony he only received 3700 non vintage sheets with the rest being stolen by Rob.

When asked again in 2026 about what stock Lucifer has left he told Tony he has none of the original Paul Guest’s sheets left and simply reprints Paul’s designs now.

This is despite his website still listing over 300 of Paul’s designs in stock being sold as originals, often at inflated prices.

Kevin, who is not involved with the blotter art community, has confirmed that Lucifer came to the warehouse together with Rob on multiple occasions, where they sorted through, divided equally at the time eventually collected several transit van loads of blotter art, including emptying a metal security cabinet that contained Paul’s personal collection.

Kevin confirms that Rob and Lucifer sorted through the stock together in the warehouse on multiple occasions, leaving with several van loads of stock. They divided the stock close to evenly long before the pair had their disagreement.

Later, Lucifer made arrangements with Kevin to collect the printing press from Paul’s warehouse, a large machine weighing close to one tonne that required heavy lifting equipment to move. Lucifer asked Kevin to make some arrangements locally in preparation for him collecting the machine, including renting lifting equipment, which Lucifer promised to reimburse at a later date. Lucifer never paid Kevin back.

The Partnership Between Erwan Martineau & Lucifer Svard

Another website BLOTTER ART FRANCE ran by Erwan Martineau also has a large number of designs produced by Paul Guest being sold as original prints through his French website.

It is well known in community Erwan & Lucifer are close friends and business partners, with Erwan often promoting Lucifer’s website on social media and Lucifer promoting Erwan's website through his personal blog, they commonly share stock and advertise the fact they can ship each other’s orders with a quote from BLOTTER ART UK reading.. “Stocked in France and UK. Will be dispatched depending on your location right after payment clears.

Both of these major blotter art websites have together sold (almost exclusively) Paul Guest’s sheets continuously for the past four years.

The Despicable Dedication to Paul

On Lucifer’s BLOTTER ART UK website claiming to be continuing Paul's legacy there is a dedication to Paul and information about the continuation of his legacy, I want to draw attention to some of the claims Lucifer has made in this dedication to Paul quoting directly from Lucifer’s website:

“Monkey passed away in 2021 aged just 61”

Paul died suddenly at the age of 58 not 61. This 3 year inaccuracy is disrespectful and saddening from the website that claims so passionately to be continuing Paul’s legacy.

“but not before teaching Lucifer everything he knew and expressing his wish that Lucifer continues to carry the torch that Monkey had held.”

Lucifer has confirmed privately he had no print making experience when starting his BLOTTER ART UK website. He has since visited an experienced printmaker attempting to learn how to produce blotter art.

“Lucifer quickly became a key part of the crew, learning the techniques, skills and secrets that established Monkey as the king of his craft. They worked closely together and formed a close friendship as well as a wonderful working relationship.”

The printmaking learnt from Paul has been confirmed as a lie by Lucifer himself, he has privately confirmed that he had no printmaking experience, having only used Paul's press once over 10 years ago. Paul’s friends and close family have confirmed Lucifer was never a key part of his crew, or had any involvement in the operation of Paul's business.

Lucifer bought custom blotter art from Paul from 2005 – 2021. Paul kept some of Lucifer's designs for his collection and to resell on his website, as he did with all artists he worked with. I’m sure they considered each other friends but the statements made on Lucifer’s dedication to Paul range from flat out lies to grossly over exaggerated for commercial and egotistical benefit.

The Claims and the Some Open Questions:

The story that is being told to Paul’s brother Tony, vs what is being told publicly are very different. Some claims that are being made by Lucifer are provably wrong while others are very hard to believe based on how things transpired and statements made by Paul’s close friends and family.

I will make a follow-up post with all of the information I have found on Robert Mark Wilson as I understand this post has only covered Lucifer, Erwan as the people who made threats and allegations against me .

Allegations, Explanations & Future Plans

Since relaunching BlotterArt.com with a small stock of Paul's original sheets, Lucifer & Erwan have incorrectly alleged that I have gone into business with Robert Wilson.

In an attempt to harm my business, they have claimed that I am selling Paul’s stolen stock on behalf of Robert Wilson, they have claimed I am reprinting Paul’s designs, they have claimed I am attempting to steal Paul’s legacy and many other outlandish allegations spread publicly and privately within the community.

This is why I have chosen to address this and submit my evidence to the community regarding the whereabouts of Paul Guest’s remaining stock, private collection and the claims made by Lucifer and Erwan.

If the story Lucifer is telling privately to Tony is correct, he is currently reprinting Paul’s designs and selling these fakes as original sheets by Paul Guest. However, based on the evidence I have found and the statements given by Paul’s closest friends, family, and Lucifer himself, I believe Lucifer and Rob have stolen Paul’s private blotter art collection and stock by deceiving Tony about its true value. I believe Lucifer has damaged Paul’s original perforating equipment, he is an inexperienced printmaker and has been lying to the community for commercial gain.

The sheets I currently have in stock from Paul are prominently 9 panel sheets, these were bought in bulk directly from Paul in the years before he passed, as many of you know I started my blotter art business as a hobby selling “mini blotter art” on eBay these were made up of 100 tabs made by tearing Paul’s 9 panel sheets into 9 blocks of 100, I purchased most of Paul’s 9 panel designs in bulk with the intention of selling them as mini prints as well as Paul’s designs.

This is where the majority of my stock of Paul’s designs came from.

After launching my own Blotter Store website in 2020 I continued selling minis from Paul’s sheets and most other blotter art manufacturers, I later began manufacturing my own blotter art sheets at first with “at home” small scale methods until around 2021 when I began learning and eventually using the same production methods used by Monkey and other major manufacturing, the same methods that have been used throughout blotter art history to make truly authentic blotter art.

Since launching my website I have been approached by many collectors looking to sell individual sheets or entire collections which I have bought on multiple occasions. These offers increased after Monkey’s passing as previously, he would have got many of these offers.

This is where the majority of my vintage stock came from.

I have no connection to Robert Mark Wilson or any of Paul Guest’s stolen stock.

The plan I had for relaunching BlotterArt.com was to sell off the limited number of Paul’s sheets that had not already been torn down into mini prints and sell some of my vintage / signed sheets to help recover the money I spent on buying the BlotterArt.com website.

Whilst selling the old stock I will gradually add new designs and work with new and existing blotter artists to make new limited / signed blotter art available for many years to come, I will also eventually reprint some generic designs Paul sold to keep them available for sale, such as Bike day 1943, Orange Sunshine, Banksy etc at that time these are reprinted the listings will be updated to reflect the change.

It was a difficult decision to launch BlotterArt.com without a dedication to Monkey, this was not a decision that was made lightly, but given that Lucifer’s BLOTTER ART UK was already operating dedicated to Monkey’s legacy I ultimately decided to quietly honor Paul in my own way to try and avoid any conflict, this will be done subtly through my new designs and a separate archive project I am working to detail Monkey’s life & history as a collector and manufacturer.

My Email Exchange With Lucifer.

Before relaunching BlotterArt.com I did send Lucifer an email, respectfully asking him to update the wording of a small part on his BLOTTER ART UK website whereby is stated his website was “The Continuation of BlotterArt.com” this was not a malicious request it was simply to avoid confusion in regards to the domain name since BlotterArt.com would be continuing as it's own project, I made the request with hopes he would update the wording to reflect Paul's entire blotter art business.

Lucifer refused to update this part of his website stating “It’s not possible to buy into an already establish history. Were not going to remove our friends legacy or change any information as we have been here since it started. I suggest you earn your way before believing you can just throw money at it.”

I sent one more email to confirm I did not want him to remove any details about Paul’s legacy and hoped he would simply update the wording of statement since BlotterArt.com would be relaunching shortly and it may cause some confusion. I feel this was a fair request.

He again refused, replying “It’s doesn’t work for me no. I am the continuation of Monkey’s legacy.“

I chose to end this discussion there and continued working on the relaunch of BlotterArt.com

Doxing & Threats Against my Life.

Less than 24 hours after relaunching BlotterArt.com the previously mentioned allegations were made by those “competitors”, many rumors were spread regarding myself and BlotterArt.com

Lucifer's Business partner Erwan Martineau also posted one of my previous address which he believed to be my current home address publicly to a blotter art Facebook group with over 13,000 members alongside some more false allegations and vague threats.

Previously Erwan has posted to the same groups of 13,000 members that someone should hire a hitman to murder me. The 2 moderators of this public group and friends of Erwan, Mark McCloud & Andy Roberts allowed both of these posts to remain online indefinitely.

Since I started selling blotter art in 2018, Erwan has had an issue with me. He has consistently tried to spread this hatred among the community. Firstly, he objected to me selling mini blotter art. Later, he took issue with me selling reprints of some classic designs.

I never took this personally and assumed it was simply fear of competition rather than anything personal. Erwan is a passionate collector and very vocal about his opinions, often being very negative toward new artists and community members first starting out.

For the last 6–7 years, he has publicly harassed me and consistently attacked my business.

Erwan also has many reprints listed for sale on his own website and has previously sold mini prints from damaged stock. I believe his harassment and public death threats stem from a fear of competition, this belief is based on his previous actions.

Paul also sold reprints of many famous designs (e.g., Purple Ohms, Strawberries, etc.).

Why I'm Sharing This

I have chosen to publicly share the information I have to defend against the allegations that have been made about me.

Draw attention to the threats that have been made against my life by members of the community

And to help track down the remaining stock and private collection that was stolen.

I want to draw a comparison to another recent tragic death in the community, David Butchin. David was a beloved member of the blotter art community who sadly passed away in April 2025.

David’s blotter art collection was inherited by his wife and daughter, who had no involvement in the blotter art community and no understanding of the value of each sheet he held.

Another long-time member of our community, Kimball Deal, assisted the family in pricing, selling, packing, and shipping each of David’s sheets to ensure the family received a fair price for them.

This was done by Kimball free of charge.

This is exactly how Paul’s collection should have been handled, rather than by those sick vultures who deceived Tony and took whatever they could get.

I have provided verifiable evidence for all factual claims I have made in this statement.

It saddens me to see such behavior from prominent members of the community and to know Paul’s life’s work was stolen. Lucifer and Rob deceived Tony while knowing the true value, claiming to be close personal friends of Paul in order to gain his trust and hide the true value of Paul’s private collection and stock.

Rest in peace Monkey.

Your legacy will always live on through the artworks you created.