Thomas Kinkade

An arbitration panel on Thursday awarded $860,000 to two former Thomas Kinkade Signature Gallery owners who accused the self-proclaimed "Painter of Light" and his company, Media Arts Group Inc., of fraudulently inducing them to invest in the business -- and then ruining them financially. While not singling out Kinkade in its finding of fraud, the panel ruled that the Morgan Hill, Calif.-based company and one of its executives, Richard F.

Thomas Kinkade is famous for his luminous landscapes and street scenes, those dreamy, deliberately inspirational images he says have brought "God's light" into people's lives, even as they have made him one of America's most collected artists. A devout Christian who calls himself the "Painter of Light," Kinkade trades heavily on his beliefs and says God has guided his brush -- and his life -- for the last 20 years.

Thomas Kinkade, "Painter of \o7Lite\f7"? In a letter e-mailed to his licensed gallery owners this week, the artist accused "disgruntled ex-dealers" and a former employee of launching "media attacks" on him. But he also said he might have behaved badly during a stressful time, now behind him, during which he overindulged in food and drink and gained 50 pounds.

Fans of Thomas Kinkade's sentimental paintings soon will be able to do more than hang them on the wall. They could hang them on the wall of a house designed to look like one of his popular paintings. The California artist, beloved by middlebrow America but reviled by the art establishment, has signed a deal with developers in this resort city to help design five lake-view houses that are copies of homes in paintings such as "Beyond Autumn Gate."

A Michigan judge Wednesday dismissed a lawsuit accusing an attorney of illegal eavesdropping while representing former art gallery owners in a dispute with painter Thomas Kinkade and his California company. Filed in March by Thomas Kinkade Co. of Morgan Hill, Calif., the lawsuit alleged that attorney Joseph Ejbeh improperly transmitted over the Internet a live feed of arbitration testimony to Terry Sheppard, a witness in the case last year.

The FBI is investigating allegations that self-styled "Painter of Light" Thomas Kinkade and some of his top executives fraudulently induced investors to open galleries and then ruined them financially, former dealers contacted by federal agents said. Investigators are focusing on issues raised in civil litigation by at least six former Thomas Kinkade Signature Gallery owners, people who have been contacted by the FBI said.

Re "Dark Portrait of a 'Painter of Light,'" March 5 I have been a Thomas Kinkade dealer for almost 20 years and have had numerous appearances at my galleries by the artist. He has never displayed behavior remotely similar to what you convey. He has always been genuine, humble and appreciative of the collectors who have acquired his paintings. He has raised millions of dollars for charities as well. The art business is difficult, like all businesses, and like all small business models, a high percentage do fail.

WHAT happened to architectural criticism in The Times? Filing "An Irvine Family Mansion, Re-created for Public Use, Is One for the Books" [May 13] under the heading "Architecture" is akin to hanging a Thomas Kinkade exhibit at the Museum of Contemporary Art! The work may be well-executed, but so are Disneyland and the Grove. Will those be your next architectural subjects? JONATHAN GLASGOW \o7Long Beach \f7

Jeffrey VALLANCE, a respected contemporary artist with a teaching position at UCLA and 2004 Guggenheim Fellowship, smiles broadly as he explains how he happened to organize an exhibition of work by commercial artist Thomas Kinkade, the self-described "Painter of Light." "I got intrigued by the idea that there are different art worlds," Vallance says. "The fine-art world does not want to touch Kinkade. They see what he does as not art.

Beyond the cozy network of museums, auction houses and New York galleries that establish the market value and reputations of the contemporary artists they dub "important," there is a vast world of artists with followings that make Picasso's seem piddling. Hawaiian marine artist and long-tressed surfer Christian Lassen paints throbbing Pacific sunsets above preening waves.