MORGAN HILL, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--NASCAR and International Speedway Corporation announced today that they have licensed Thomas Kinkade, the Painter of Light, to create a commemorative painting of the historic 50th Running of the Daytona 500. While on location at Daytona International Speedway, Thomas Kinkade will sketch and paint multiple scenes from Daytona 500 Speedweek.

From the collection of images Thom creates at Daytona, the image that best embodies the history, traditions, and values of the 50 years of "The Great American Race" will be selected to become the Study for Thom's Limited Edition release. NASCAR fans will be able to participate in this process through an online vote. The final painting will be released as a special Commemorative Limited Edition Portrait and available to fans everywhere of NASCAR, the Daytona 500, and Thomas Kinkade.

"As America's most collected living artist, we're excited to have Thomas Kinkade capture the excitement and spectacle of the 50th Running of the Great American Race," said Daytona International Speedway President Robin Braig. "His commemorative scene of the Daytona 500 will be yet another addition to his lifelong dedication to capture the American experience."

"I am excited to be invited to commemorate the 50th Anniversary and the Daytona 500," stated Thomas Kinkade, known as the Painter of Light. "The Daytona 500 is known as The Great American Race' and I am honored to be a part of the 50th Anniversary," he later added.

Thomas Kinkade's collection of sketches and paintings created in various locations during Speedweek will be placed online at www.thomaskinkade.com/Daytona. For the first time ever, fans will be able to register to vote and let Thom know their favorite image. Thomas Kinkade will paint the selected image to become the Commemorative Limited Edition Portrait of the 50th Running of the Daytona 500. The collection of images will be available for voting from March 1st through March 15th, 2008.

"The Daytona 500 is a celebration of American sports and culture and the crown jewel of the NASCAR schedule," said Thomas Kinkade. "My goal is to create a piece capturing the great event that will live in the homes and the hearts of NASCAR fans around the world."

As Kinkade's legion of fans grows larger (more than 10 million people own a work by TK in the United States!), many of them are looking to eBay to add new works and locate the rare "sold out" editions from prior years.

For the past six years on eBay, Karen de la Carriere, eBay user ID "karendelac" caters to the needs of Kinkade enthusiasts like no other seller on the world's largest auction site.

NEWSFLASH: Congratulations to karendelac for snagging the 2007 "Lens of the Year" Award as determined by the lensmasters and readers of Squidoo.com:

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In an eBay Art Seller Newsflash article, de la Carriere describes her enthusiasm for Kinkade's works: "Collecting Kinkade is addictive and as my own passion for the artist grew, I started to buy entire collections, even when they contained works I already owned."

"People know they can find many of the best and rarest Kinkades through me," she says. "In fact, 30% of my business is with Kinkade galleries. When customers approach galleries looking for well-known Kinkades from the past, the gallery owners know there's one place to find them."

From the Art Newsflash article: "De la Carriere credits her success to careful attention to customer service and a single-minded focus on reducing response times when customers make an inquiry or purchase. She has a toll-free number that she answers personally and prides herself on trying to respond within 30 minutes to each and every email-even though that often amounts to 200 per day. She's even gone the extra mile to ensure that every customer gets a FedEx tracking number for their purchase within minutes of completing the transaction.

"There is so much room for miscommunication and misunderstanding online," she says. "When you can reassure customers with instant feedback, things go a lot more smoothly."

Below you will see many of karendelac's eBay listings. You will notice when you click on a picture that the eBay listing features a substantial number of high-quality photos and compelling description laden with detail to make the buying experience as effortless as possible.

Personally, my family has three Kinkade works in our homes--all from Karen de la Carriere. Each is wonderful in its own way. Take a few moments and check out some of the Thomas Kinkade art below from eBay PowerSeller "karendelac".

Enjoy.

Jason Padalecki currently plays Sam Winchester in the TV show SUPERNATURAL and recently portrayed the painter Thomas Kinkade in THE CHRISTMAS COTTAGE, a film about the artist's inspirational life.

The Christmas Cottage tells the semi-autobiographical tale of how a young boy is propelled to launch a career as an artist after he learns that his mother is in danger of losing the family home. Michael Campus directs a film written by Ken LaZebnick and co-produced by painter Kinkade. To be released this Christmas holiday seaason (2008).

Long admired by thousands of devoted fans, Thomas Kinkade announced that a architect is designing homes based on the artists input in the $4-6 million dollar range that will be built in Couer d'Alene, Idaho. The new development will not be the first to have Kinkade inspired homes. Four years ago a subdivision in Vallejo, California sprouted Kinkade-styled homes. The subdivision sold well with average prices around $400,000.

The homes will be built on a 20 acre parcel with views of Lake Couer d'Alene, a easy commute to Spokane, Washington. The homes design and look will focus on reproducing his style from the Kinkade Gate series. A total of five homes will be built and will be marketed to fans of Kinkades that want to live in a three-dimensional experience of his art. Five designs have already been selected from five paintings that will fit into the site appropriately.

Kinkade has been very successful selling his artwork to middle America, for many years and in many forms. The developer has had requests from a wide variety of custom home buyers to reproduce Kinkade-style homes. Riding on the single-minded nature of these fans, plans are progressing on the development. I see the only possible drawback is a resale one, when the first wave of fans decide to move on, will there be enough interest by a second wave at extremely high price points to support the resale of Kinkade homes?

My attitude is a wait and see. Kinkade as a brand has never been marketed at the super-luxury level. Most serious art collectors aren't in this developments target market. But then does taste really matter if you have the money? The developers think not and might consider Kinkade high-art as many his followers do.

Mark Nash's fourth real estate book, "1001 Tips for Buying and Selling a Home" (2005), and working as a real estate broker in Chicago are the foundation for his consumer-centric real estate perspective which has been featured on ABC-TV, Associated Press,CBS The Early Show, Bloomberg TV, Bottom Line Magazine.CNN-TV, Chicago Sun Times & Tribune, Fidelity Investor's Weekly, MarketWatch, HGTVpro.com, MSNBC.com, Smart Money Magazine,The New York Times, Realty Times, Universal Press Syndicate and USA Today.

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