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More
from and about
Thomas Kinkade
(biographical info at bottom of page) |
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Cherish the
people who make up your home, and you'll
notice the hearth fires burn brighter than ever before. |
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Most people are just too busy
and their life spins out of control in frenzy and I began to see
that happening in my life as more and more commitments would weigh
in on my daily schedule and I would lose time with my family in
favor of these commitments that had to be met and I just decided
that there must be some ways, some simple tools, to bring back to
my life those foundational life elements, those peaceful times
with my family. Those simple moments of walking in the
neighborhood and riding the bicycle and taking time to read a
book. Simple things that enhance life and give your life balance.
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One of the basic things
that we did in our life was that we eliminated the television and that’s a
radical thing for most people because it is a drug-like addiction that people
have to that, as a form of relaxation they have in the evenings. But it is a
kind of stressful element in the life because people become hooked on certain
shows, which create commitments, which you have to be there because you can’t
miss this latest show. And when we got the television out of our home, which
was just a couple of years into our marriage, we found that we had so much time
for things we really liked to do. I don’t have any particular moral objection
to television per se. It is a neutral media that is neither good nor evil.
However, it can be either, depending on the content. But as a medium it is
neutral. Therefore, television is not to me intrinsically evil, but to me
it is a thief of time.
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Whether
it's a pebble in a riverbed or a soaring mountain peak, I
see everything
in the world as the handiwork of the Lord. When I paint, I
try to represent the
beauty of God's creation in my art. Many modern painters see
the world
as a jumble of random lines and shapes with no divine beauty
or order, and their
works reflect their viewpoint. Because I see God's
peacefulness, serenity,
and contentment, I work to capture those feelings on the
canvas. My vision of God defines my vision of the world.
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Balance,
peace, and joy are the fruit of a successful life. It starts
with
recognizing your talents and finding ways to serve others by using
them.
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Surround yourself with the kinds of input that
are uplifting,
that expand your mind and settle your spirit. |
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Beauty
is found in anything that delights the
senses, nourishes the soul, fires the imagination. |
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There is
something deeply refreshing about any truly creative pursuit.
And the benefits of creative endeavor don't depend on the quality
of
the endeavor. It is the very act of creating that renews you. This
is why
I am so passionate about encouraging people to paint or draw--to create--
regardless of whether or not they have "talent." I
believe that any creative
endeavor pays magnificent benefits for the time invested. Not only
does
it afford the simple, childlike satisfaction of playing with
materials--
smearing paint, scribbling ideas and images, pounding with hammer
and
nails--but it also helps us make connections and understand life a
little better. |
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The worlds I paint leave a lot
to engage the imagination by hinting
at what lies beyond the four edges of the painting. I think
getting
beyond the four edges of an opportunity or challenge is one
of the basic skills you need in business. |
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Thomas Kinkade was born in Sacramento, California on January 19th,
1958. He was raised in nearby Placerville, a small town in the
former gold fields of the Sierra foothills. At the tender age of
five, little Thomas Kinkade and his two siblings were left
fatherless after their parent's divorce. They were impoverished and
lived in the most run-down house on the street. His mother,
Marianne, tried to make ends meet on her modest secretary's wage,
but being a single working mom was a tough job. Often the three
children came home to a dark empty house. Kinkade recalls,
"There wasn't much stability." Despite the tough times,
Thom's family encouraged his interest in art. Kinkade dreamt of the
future and that someday, he would make his living as a painter and
would have enough money to build a nice family home and not worry
about paying the bills.
In Placerville, he was a boy with crayons, a kid who could draw. He
was also the local newspaper delivery boy, an avid swimmer and loyal
friend. As a child he constantly read biographies of artists,
including those of painters and illustrators like Norman Rockwell,
Maxwell Parrish and Howard Pyle. At age 11, he had his first
"apprenticeship." Charles Bell, a local painter,
instructed him in basic techniques. It was that year that he sold
his first painting for $7.50. The woman who bought it remembered
thinking at the time, I'd better hold onto this picture. In high
school, Kinkade came face to face with twentieth-century modernism
in the person of Glenn Wessels, a former professor in the art
department at the University of California. Wessels encouraged
Kinkade both to tie his art more directly to emotion (rather than
observation alone) and to experiment with highly personal forms of
expression.
He also influenced Kinkade's decision to attend the University of
California at Berkley, where he enrolled in studio art and art
history classes with a vision of himself as a counterculture
nonconformist who would use his art to change and challenge
convention. But Berkley in the 1970's gave Thom a culture shock of
his own. He discovered he was indeed a nonconformist in his dislike
of their system of art education. "My professors would say art
should be all about you," Kinkade recalls. "That's a very
self-centered approach." After two years of frustration, Thom
decided it was time to move on and he transferred to the Art Center
College of Design in Pasadena. The fierce competition with other
students pushed him to an intensive development of techniques for
creating effects of light and mood. His work at the Art Center
helped him to get hired to paint backgrounds--700 of them--for
Disney's Hollywood animation studios on the animated film Fire
and Ice. After one year he decided to move on.
In 1982, Thom and his high school sweetheart, Nanette, were married
in a small church in Placerville. The church became the subject of
his painting "Blossom Hill Church." The young couple had
moved back to their hometown and decided to go into business on
their own. They began making limited edition prints of Thom's work
out of their garage. Their first piece was Dawson, a beautiful
tribute to early Alaska. Nanette helped to take orders and then pack
and ship the prints from their garage. Immediately, they were a
success and Dawson was a complete sellout. Light post publishing was
born. The corporate philosophy of Light post remains the creation of
art that will communicate with people and whose message
"uplifts people." With help from investors he opened 10
galleries across the country to display and sell his artwork. By
early 1998 he had more than 100, and has since tripled. The little
boy with big dreams had grown to become the World's Most Collected
Artist.
Kinkade passed away in 2012.
~from thomaskinkadeimages.com
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