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At week's end eBay listed a single $100,000 bid (could it be by Buffett himself, to start things off?) for the 6-by-6-foot artwork. Buffett and his daughter, Susan, are strong supporters of Girls Inc., which will receive the auction proceeds.
Bidding ends at 7 p.m. Thursday.
Israel, known for his high-energy, two-handed, rock-music-accompanied "art concerts," began the portrait outside the Qwest Center Omaha on the chilly morning of Berkshire Hathaway Inc.'s annual meeting last May.
Buffett stood nearby as his image emerged on a mounted canvas that spun like a large wheel. Israel splashed colors liberally around the stage and tossed brushes in the air as he switched between buckets of house paint supplied by Benjamin Moore, a Berkshire subsidiary.
When the U2 music ended, the 10 minutes was up. Buffett stepped forward to admire the portrait and congratulate the paint-splattered Israel, who wore coveralls over a tuxedo.
An hour or so later, framers from Larson Juhl, another Berkshire subsidiary, hung the painting inside the Qwest Center. While the canvas was out of public view, Israel had refined and added finishing touches to complete the work, just in time for Buffett to autograph it.
STOCKING STUFFER: Random House is promoting "The Snowball: Warren Buffett and the Business of Life," as a Christmas gift, citing the Buffett biography's ranking as No. 1 on some best-seller lists.
The publisher cites a description by Forbes as "the mandatory book to read in these treacherous times of financial crisis." The New York Times says the book, by former insurance analyst Alice Schroeder, is a "sprawling, colorful biography" for people who want to know Buffett.
BERKSHIRE BEAR: Pessimistic Internet postings followed last week's midday dips of Berkshire Hathaway's Class A shares below $100,000 for the first time since 2006 and other recent setbacks, including a steep earnings decline in the latest quarter.
One fund manager postulated that Buffett has "lost his groove." (Buffett's office declined to respond.)
Doug Kass wrote on RealMoney Silver and TheStreet.com that many of Buffett's longtime stock holdings have lost more than the market average, wiping out value built up over many years and making his long-term outlook on investing "irrelevant."
"I have concluded that The Oracle of Omaha has morphed into the Mozart of Marketing and has veered off his path in a style drift into derivatives (selling puts on the S&P 500)," Kass wrote. "More importantly, his investment strategy, which served him so well over the years, has begun to noticeably sour and might not be suited for the future."
Kass is founder and president of Seabreeze Partners Management Inc. and general partner and investment manager of Seabreeze Partners Short LP and Seabreeze Partners Short Offshore Fund Ltd.
--Contact the writer: 444-1080, steve.jordon@owh.com
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