A lovely addition
to the Landmark Series in Thom's popular Plein
Air Collection. Thom writes: "In Edinburgh,
Scotland the works of God and the works of man
exist in an almost miraculous harmony. Here, truly,
is a city built for civilized living." - Thomas Kinkade
Pacific
Nocturne December,
2004
For the first
time in five years, Pacific Nocturne, the first
image in the newly opened Archive Collection II,
is being released. The Archive Collection II is
a body of work representing some of Thom's earliest
paintings and experimentations. As Thom writes: "This
early work portrays the setting of my honeymoon
and was a breakthrough in my efforts to capture
light." - Thomas Kinkade
Sunset
over Riga, Latvia December,
2004
A new Plein Air
image portraying the glorious medieval crown jewel
of the Baltics. Painted across the Daugava River,
the city glitters with light in the evening dusk. - Thomas Kinkade
Symbols
of Freedom December,
2004
This image will
be presented to the First Family at the lighting
of the National Christmas Tree during the annual
Christmas Pageant of Peace celebration in December.
A portion of all proceeds throughout the month
of December will go towards supporting this unifying
and beloved American tradition! Thom writes: "My
Symbols of Freedom is a symbolic celebration of
the foundational freedoms we enjoy: Freedom from
want, Freedom of Religion, Freedom from Fear and
Freedom of Speech." - Thomas Kinkade
Dogwood
Chapel November,
2004
The impulse to
worship is not confined within the vaulted ceiling
and colored windows of a church. There are places
where the bounty of God's creation shines forth
with such radiance that the humble heart is moved
to express its gratitude in prayer. And in some
of those natural shrines, mankind has seen fit
to build to provide the worshiper with a modest
chapel where we can satisfy our need to pray.
Dogwood Chapel portrays just such a spiritual jewel within a setting of
breathtaking natural beauty. A graceful footpath leads us to the door of
a modest chapel, lodged within the shade of an overarching, flowering dogwood
tree. Even if we are unfamiliar with the legends that link the dogwood
to the crucifixion and resurrection of our Lord, we cannot help but recognize
that this tree with its lavish white blossoms is a sign of God's sheltering
grace, and His abiding gift of love.
Dogwood Chapel is my expression of gratitude for the abundant beauty of
God's creation. Just as some nameless congregation was moved to erect their
chapel here, I was moved to paint the scene so that I could return to it
in prayer and gratitude. I hope that you will return to Dogwood Chapel
in those times when you need to sooth your weary spirit.
– Thomas
Kinkade
October,
2004
Night
Before christmas
I've long imagined that I knew
in just what kind of home the not-so-silent
The Night Before Christmas celebrated in Clement
Moore's unforgettable poem must have taken place.
It would have been a stately white- framed Victorian
mansion with porticoed porch, gable roof, and
massive stone chimney. I see it bathed in the
light of good fellowship, with tidy green shutters
and a white picket fence.
As it happens, I've painted just such a magical home earlier in my career. It
is the centerpiece of Victorian Garden II, where it sits in a sylvan spring garden,
embraced by lavish, dew-drenched blossoms. The Night Before Christmas revisits
the stately mansion, while the change of season works a dramatic transformation
of the scene. Snow shrouds the foliage, replacing the gemlike dazzle of flowers
in the earlier piece with a tapestry woven in shades of white. The lamp is festooned
with wreath and bow, a sled stands ready-to-ride on the picket fence, a jaunty
snowman greets guests. Evening falls. Soon, the family nestled within will "settle
(down) for their long winter's nap," and the promised night of wonder will
unfold. Come, savor The Night Before Christmas with me.
– Thomas
Kinkade
September,
2004
Chicago,
Winter at the Water Tower
Nestled among the glass and steel
giants of Chicago’s Michigan Avenue, surrounded
by some of the world’s premier shipping
and dining establishments, the “Water
Tower” looms like a nostalgic monument
from an ancient age. And, indeed, the limestone
and concrete tower, built in 1869 to resemble
a Gothic castle from a much more distant time,
is one of the very few standing survivors of
the great Chicago fire. The dynamic city has
a past, and the nation’s first American
Water Landmark, stands as the most visible symbol
of its historic legacy,.
The Water Tower is also a vibrant part of modern
Chicago, as my Chicago, Winter at the Water
Tower demonstrations. A winter twilight is deepening
into night, and the brilliant lights of Michigan
Avenue bathe the tower’s warm limestone
façade in a golden glow. The light is
so radiant, so luminous that it appears a festival
could be taking place at the base of the tower.
Indeed, Chicago, Winter at the Water Tower,
a tourist centre in the heart of the great city,
is a festive place at all times. Quaint hansom
cabs convey tourists to and fro, and crowds
of shoppers and celebrants fill the streets
at all hours. It’s winter in the city;
for the visitor, winter is a romantic season
in Chicago, softening the city’s hard
lines with its shimmering light.
– Thomas Kinkade
August,
2004
Charleston,
Sunset on Rainbow Row
The Kinkade family delights in travel.
One of our recurring discoveries is Charleston,
South Carolina, where the heart of the Old South
lives on. The feeling that I get when I visit
Charleston is nostalgic, romantic, as if I had
somehow stepped back in time. So, as I worked
on my studio treatment of “Charleston, Sunset
on Rainbow Row”, I’ve filled my streets
with vintage cars and passersby wearing simple
yet timeless garb. Step aboard the horse-drawn
carriage for a leisurely visit to Rainbow Row!
– Thomas Kinkade
July,
2004
Windmere
Ranch, Sunset
The Kinkade family has established “Windermere
Ranch,” in the foothills of northern California,
as our private retreat. Of course, we sometimes
open up the ranch to entertain dealers and friends,
but it remains our special preserve – a
place where we can feel completely together.
Recently, my oldest daughter, Merritt, and
I laid symbolic claim on the land by actually
climbing to the top of the mountain I portray
in ‘Windermere Ranch, Sunset’, which
we call Rainbow Ridge. The round trip took us
three hours of strenuous effort, but our exhaustion
was matched by our pride.
The stark, wind-carved mountains are especially
dramatic in the vivid light of sunset. I painted ‘Windermere
Ranch, Sunset’ in a near frenzy of excitement,
sensing that the act of painting completed my
conquest.
I’m offering this striking, very personal
vista in an extremely limited edition to those
who share my love of country living.
July,
2004
Cobblestone
Christmas
You made this ancient stone
bridge an artistic monument that I must revisit.
When I issued Cobblestone Bridge some years
ago, this celebration of life in the Hampshire
region of England quickly became the best loved
of all my village scenes.
As I considered subjects for a Christmas painting this year, my thoughts turned
to the familiar charms of southwestern England, and I decided to return to
the scene of my former inspiration. Not, this time, on a tumble with Nanette
through snowy English fields, but simply through the powers of mind and imagination.
I know this stately old bridge well enough to conjure it and its environs when
it wears a mantle of white and bears the wreaths of Christmas.
Cobblestone Christmas features a bridge spanning
a free-flowing brook, a church, a comfortable
inn - all constructed with the stones that abound
in the fields. The thatched roofs, built up
from bundles of reeds, are crowned with snow;
many are also framed by strings of twinkling
lights.
Light spills from the windows of every home
and suffuses into the crisp winter air, where
it mingles with the incandescent fires of the
setting sun. God and man have truly collaborated
in a celebration of the season.
"I believe that each
of us carries an image of the good life in a
private place very near to our hearts. Because
I am a painter, I visualize THE GOOD LIFE in
terms of a scene that embodies the virtues and
values that are most precious to me.
In the THE GOOD LIFE, third and final piece in my Beginning of a Perfect Evening
collection, I have in effect set up my easel in that imagined space where God’s
bounty is manifest. It is an autumn evening: that season and time when god seems
to live in the radiant sky and charge his world with special grandeur.
I identify with the fisherman, perhaps because Christ described His followers
as fishers of men, and certainly because the fisherman lives in a profound
harmony with nature and receives its gifts with humble gratitude. Mountain
streams such as this are abundant with fat brook trout; the smoke of a cook
fire rises in the still mountain air.
Towering peaks embrace the valley, and light spills from the log cabin which
seems ablaze with life. I imagine that my wife and daughters are safely tucked
away in that cottage, enjoying the pleasures of a comfortable domesticity,
as they await my triumphant return with the evening catch,. Alone with my family,
safe, peacefully savoring the glories of God’s majestic creation – that
is my image of THE GOOD LIFE. I invite you to enjoy it with me."
-Thomas Kinkade
May,
2004
Heading
Home
The soldier is alone ... as he is never alone
in battle.
The weight of all he has seen and
done, of the pain he has borne and the trials
he
has overcome bear down on his broad shoulders.
The soldier's personal war is over: he is
Heading Home.
I did not choose to show the
warrior's face in my painting of the homecoming
veteran.
The hero of Heading Home is not an individual
at all; he is the essence of the American
soldier. We cannot tell whether he returns
from Normandy, from Saigon, from Beirut. In
a sense, he has spilled his blood on all those
fields of honor.
Like all of us, the soldier
walks the path of his life and finds himself
under God's
watchful eye, alone. He is bathed in a golden
light that can only be called "heavenly." Like
all God's children, his ultimate destination
is a heavenly home, where he can know the
sweet peace of divine love.
We cannot know
whether he is Heading Home to hearth and family,
to the pleasures of
domestic love and a joyful reunion, or whether
he may be returning instead to the bliss of
heaven, which is the perfection of those earthly
pleasures.
We can only wish him a joyful homecoming,
and say a sublime word of thanks to the hero's
of every generation!
-Thomas Kinkade
April,
2004
Friendship
Cottage
"Friendship Cottage
brings one of my most extended series to a satisfying
close. The new issue began in my imagination
as a lovely walkway, honoring the path of beauty
I've traveled with my "family" of
Kinkade collectors. I became intrigued by the
idea of tucking a cottage away at the end of
the path, to symbolize the imaginative "home" we
share.
Friendship
Cottage comes with a special free offer for Thomas
Kinkade collectors to remind us how very important
a treasured acquaintance can be. Here we can savor
the joys of good fellowship."
March,
2004
Garden
of Grace
Step into the Garden of
Grace and you will see it overflowing with light,
goodness, and all the colors of nature illustrating
how the blessing of abundance is there for us.
Thom's inspiration for Garden of Grace was the
message of grace that we all celebrate, a message
needed especially today.
All
of us face challenges at times, but it's comforting
to know that God's hand is always there to protect
us, and that his grace is there to encourage us
with love when we need it most.
February,
2004
Courage
The moral order of God’s
universe is like an exquisite tapestry; the
foundational values of the good life interweave
in a seamless whole. In my Life Values Collection,
I explore the connections between these divinely
inspired values.
Perseverance, the first issue, considers
life as a voyage through stormy seas – a
test of faith and a demonstration of God’s
sustaining love. Courage, my new Life Values
painting, expands on the metaphor of a sea
voyage, bringing us to the moment of divine
inspiration, when God graces us with courage
beyond the merely human – the resolve
we need to overcome any obstacle.
I make full use of a vocabulary of personal
artistic symbols to convey this message: God
rewards our perseverance with His gift of
courage. Our lone sailor has come within sight
of a lighthouse; the beacon of divine love
will guide him to shore. Smoke curls from
the chimney of the keeper’s solid brick
cottage, hinting at domestic comforts within.
A sublime radiance breaks through the clouds,
embracing the boat in its holy light.
I painted Courage at a time when I was especially
grateful for God’s hand of deliverance
in my life. May it remind you that courage
is, truly, a gift from the Almighty.
-
Thomas Kinkade
January,
2004
Sunset
on Monterey Bay
The Kinkade
family is charmed by the romantic vistas of
Monterey Bay; in fact, I’ve established
the Thomas Kinkade Museum and Cultural Centre
in this heavenly setting to give us a reason
for our visits.
My
girls and I especially love to set out on our
bikes along the winding trail that skirts the
dramatic shoreline, revealing spectacular ocean
vistas like the one I’ve captured in “Sunset
on Monterey Bay.” I’d loaded my painting
setup on my bike that day in the hopes that I’d
discover just such a breathtaking view, and I
wasn’t disappointed.
As I set to work, the setting sun painted
the clouds and the mirror surface of the ocean
with luminous sunset colors; I worked feverishly
to capture the glorious radiance. Monterey
pines outlined the rocky promontories with
their bold silhouettes. Somehow, the cries
of seagulls only enhances the rapturous quiet
of the calm Pacific.
I make it my practice to show the originals
of my plein-air paintings at Kinkade Museum,
and I recently had such a showing of “Sunset
on Monterey Bay” for a private gathering
of collectors. Since most my collectors are
romantics at heart, with a special fondness
for sunsets over the ocean, the reception
was gratifyingly enthusiastic. I hope that
it will awaken the romantic in your as well.
-
Thomas Kinkade
January,
2004
Hotel
Del Coronado
The stately,
elegant American past lives on in unexpected
places. One of these is in San Diego, where
the “Hotel Del Coronado,” one
of the grand dames of stately nineteenth century
wooden hotels, looms like a dowager empress
over its picturesque shore.
When
I visited, I found that the Del, as it’s
called, is haunted by memories of gentlemen in
top hats strolling the grounds with ladies in
long evening gowns on their arms. Traditions such
as high tea, and memorable Thanksgiving and New
Year’s celebrations, hearken back to that
fashionable era. Indeed, the “Hotel Del
Coronado,” the glamorous setting for such
classic movies as “Some Like It Hot,” is
an authentic American treasure.
I set up my easel in the sand, and began
to paint just as the morning fog lifted
and golden light broke through, bathing
the dignified old hotel in a radiance that
seemed to banish the years. I tried to capture
the almost rapturous sense of renewal that
was a gift of the sparkling ocean air, the
crisp green ice plants, and the graceful
palm trees swaying in the breeze.
“Hotel Del Coronado” reflects
my determination to capture American landmarks
on canvas. I hope it will become a landmark
in your collection, as well.
Edinburgh,
Scotland 
