Thomas Kinkade, one of nation's most popular painters, dies in Los Gatos

[marions ghost]

114. Here's more about how the products were created...

"Kinkade's divine yet technical inspiration was the perfection of a process by which an original oil painting — he creates a dozen new images a year — is digitally photographed, transferred onto a plastic-like surface and glued onto canvas. Each print visits "highlight artists," mostly Hispanic and Asian hourly workers. In a paint-by-number style, they add a dot of red to a tree here, a dash of white to an interior light there.

The process allows Kinkade to keep his originals, which he locks in vaults when they're not on tour in a mobile home. (His early paintings were sold; collectors say they trade hands in the low six figures.)

There are nine versions of each reproduced image, from Standard Numbered editions, for a few hundred dollars, to Studio Proofs that feature a textured canvas, more highlighting and Kinkade's machine-etched signature — compete with his DNA, courtesy of mixing the ink with the painter's hair and blood."

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http://www.usatoday.com/life/2002/2002-03-12-kinkade.htm