Marilyn Weeks is packing up four decades of paintings.

The local artist, who has worked in a quiet studio above Copenhagen Bakery & Cafe at 1214 Burlingame Ave. since the mid-1980s, will leave the space in September after a change in the building's ownership.

Weeks converted a former dentist's office into her studio. Back then, her work consisted mostly of simple drawings. Over the years, those drawings became bold, colorful abstracts, some depicting the avenue below. The studio walls are filled with them.

"The scene of Burlingame Avenue has been with me like all my life, and when I would come here 40 years ago, all the stores were closed on Sunday, and there was nobody on the street," Weeks told the San Mateo Daily Journal. "I think it's a beautiful street. I think it's positive. It's part of my work."

She watched everyday shops give way to upscale brands and the once-quiet street fill with visitors and restaurantgoers on weekends. The avenue got livelier. Her art got bolder.

Before devoting herself full-time to painting, Weeks taught art at several local schools, including Burlingame Intermediate School, until she retired in 2004. After retirement, she threw herself into the studio, connecting with other artists and shops on the avenue, including the Andre Norris Gallery and the Studio Shop.

Weeks said she hopes other artists working quietly along Burlingame Avenue will receive more recognition. "There are quite a few artists around tucked in here and there that you wouldn't know, and it would be nice if, somehow, they could get more recognition," she told the Daily Journal.

Her studio sits one door down from Copenhagen Bakery at 1214 Burlingame Ave., overlooking the sidewalk traffic she has painted for decades. She called it an ideal space and said she has enjoyed every year of it.