WBRZ - Baton Rouge

New Orleans police are looking for a thief who took two framed Blue Dog paintings from the wall of the artist's gallery, popped them into a shopping bag and walked out in daylight.

Artist George Rodrigue says those were the only paintings small enough to take without being
noticed.

The gallery's six security cameras recorded the theft last week.

The paintings were part of a set of three identical paintings with different background colors: red, yellow and purple.

The yellow canvas was left behind, and Rodrigue says it's probably because it was thicker than the other two.

His son and attorney, Jacques Rodrigue, says the stolen paintings were valued $40,000 total, but his father lost $55,000 because he won't sell the remaining picture without the others.