Artist Thomas Kinkade dies in California at age 54

"Sunrise, a Prayer of Hope for the Millenium"

SAN FRANCISCO –  Artist Thomas Kinkade, whose brushwork paintings of idyllic landscapes, cottages and churches have been big sellers for dealers across the United States, died Friday, a family spokesman said.

Kinkade, 54, died at his home in Los Gatos in the San Francisco Bay Area of what appeared to be natural causes, David Satterfield said.

Kinkade's sentimental paintings, with their scenes of country gardens and churches in dewy morning light, were beloved by middlebrow America but reviled by the art establishment. He claimed to be the nation's most collected living artist, and his paintings and spin-off products were said to fetch some $100 million a year in sales, and to be in 10 million homes in the United States.

Read more on FOX News.

NOTE: The painting shown, "Sunrise, a Prayer of Hope for the Millenium", was described by Kinkade this way: "As we approach the year 2000, I feel compelled as an artist to celebrate not the passing of the old millennium but the beginning of the new millennium.  To me the new millennium represents a pivotal point in human-history—a chance to change the world for the better."

I thought this was an appropriate painting and description with tomorrow being Easter Sunday.