AUSTIN (KXAN) — Austin artist Chuck Voelter knows with each of his paintings, the day will come where he’ll have to say goodbye. This week he said goodbye to them in the most painful way imaginable. He’s out thousands of dollars after thieves stole a trailer from outside of his home with seven paintings.

“It was several year’s worth of work, in terms of when I started them and when I finished them,” said Voelter, owner of Canvasland Art Services. “I was numb. You have something stolen like that from you, I was numb.”

Voelter says he could have earned up to $1,800 on each painting, and they would retail for about $3,600. While the financial loss hurts, he says wasting the art is much more painful.

“Just the idea of my work being discarded or being thrown away, that’s the part that makes me really crazy, I’d love it if I could get them back.”

He reached out to KXAN in hopes that if someone sees this story and runs across the paintings, they will know they’re stolen.

“They represent a lot of creative time and energy and thought, that got poured into the work, and I would just hate for that to be thrown away.”

Voelter says while the trailer can be replaced, the paintings cannot. And while he does have insurance, it likely won’t fully cover the value of the paintings.

If you have any information about the stolen trailer or paintings, contact Austin Police. 

Voelter’s neighbor went through his surveillance video and was able to identify the possible vehicle involved in the theft: