"Artists Beware"

This is not so much a "beware" as a "do you know where they are" post.  I have nothing against Saren, I would just like to know if anyone has seen her around the 'net.

I found Saren through a post on FursuitAuctions and contacted her about a commission July 21st 2010.  We remained in contact almost constantly, up until Sept. 4th 2010, when she stopped responding to my e-mails.  Nothing had occurred to make her want to break contact with  me, as it was just friendly banter most of the time.

Her second-to-last message to me was an apology for a slight lull in responses, because she was having computer issues.  Other than that, everything was smooth.

She does not have an FA, apparently.

Her LJ is: sarendipity7.livejournal.com/

Thanks for your help, guys.  Let me know if I've done anything wrong with this post, I'm a first-timer, heh.

(I'm writing not as a moderator but as a member.)

I recently found a 'realistic' artist on FA who paints over/traces photos, without permission or credit. I wouldn't have stuck my nose in, but they do this with commissions, not just their personal art. (Not that it's legal to trace if it's personal art, but it peeves me when commissioners unknowingly pay for traced art...)

When I mentioned politely that this was against copyright laws, the artist said, 'Not in Australia. I have done extensive research into my country's copyright laws, etc., etc...'.

My limited internet research into Australian copyright law did not seem to agree with the artist's claim. However, I only spent an hour or so researching this. Additionally, I've read/heard that where internet image hosting is concerned, the laws of the country where the servers reside take precedence, but again, I am not certain.

So, my questions are:

1. If an artist lives in one country, but posts their art on a site with servers based in another country, whose copyright laws apply?

2. More specifically, does Australia actually allow tracing/painting precisely over photographs without permission?

(Not naming this artist, yet, until I know more about the copyright laws. Also because, while I am pretty certain much of their gallery is traced, I was only able to locate a single exact art-to-photo match. The rest of their gallery looks like this image, though, with slightly wonky/frankensteined anatomy, but I couldn't find the source photos.)

EDIT: I am referring purely to the artist tracing photos which do not belong to them or which are not 'free stock'. The one example I found expressly stated that the photographer gave no permission for the photo to be used in any way.

EDIT TWO: The artist's replies when I linked the copied photo:

First:
I have fully researched copyright before and discovered it's not illegal, at least in this country, to draw from photographs because of the difference in mediums. Thank you for the link however, it was an older photo reference and I didn't know the photographer. I will remove the image because I don't wish to break any copyright laws that other countries have in place.

Second (after I asked which country they were in):
I live in Australia ;) I had to do a lot of research into copyright laws once because a company stole and published my artwork without my consent and I didn't get anything back from it, and during my research I did come across these types of laws. In one case, somebody actually copied somebody else's painting, and the artist tried to sue them but the person was proven innocent because it was a 'different style'. It's a real grey area though, I guess it would depend on the actual case.