Thomas Kinkade was born in 1958 and grew up in Placerville, California, (near Sacramento) with his mother, older sister and younger brother. His family knew at a very young age that Thom was a gifted artist. At age 4, he was correcting the perspective of a roadway that his sister had drawn beside a house in a picture. From that age on, his direction was set. By age 13, he was painting at a professional level in oil, much to the amazement of his fine art teachers at the local high school. He sold his first painting at age 11 for $7.50. The woman who bought it remembered thinking at the time, “I’d better hold onto this picture. It will probably be worth something someday.”
Thom chose Berkeley for his first two years of college. During his years at Berkeley, he spent hours at the Oakland Museum, studying the paintings of Thomas Hill, Albert Bierstadt, and George Inness and other painters within the luminous movement of the 19th century. Thom loved the traditional forms of art, but at Berkeley, the philosophy seemed to be, “Express yourself, FOR yourself” in a very self-absorbing , self-focused way. Thom decided that the purpose of his artistic talent was to enrich the lives of others, and to pursue this goal, he enrolled at the Art Center College of Design located in Pasadena, California.
In 1984, Thom traveled to Alaska where he met a bush pilot, Hoppy Harrower. Thom decided that he wanted to paint a suite in the Yukon, so he told the pilot he would give him the original of the first work he painted, worth $4,000.00, if he would fly him around the area for 3 weeks. The painting became known as “Dawson”. It was Thom’s first published painting in 1984.
Thomas Kinkade is widely regarded as one of the foremost living painters of light. He uses techniques of the late nineteenth century American painters, known as Luminists. His paintings radiate light, inviting viewers to bask in the nostalgia of earlier, less stressful times. Thom’s work emphasizes cozy cottages, country churchyards, cityscapes, and Western landscapes. Each setting is accompanied by that special “Kinkade Glow”, which Thom attributes to “soft edges, a warm palette and an overall sense of light”.
Thomas Kinkade is a gregarious man with a great sense of humor. He is left-handed, about six feet tall and of Scottish/Irish descent. A devout Christian, Kinkade readily acknowledges God’s hand in his life and is well aware of his many blessings including his wife, Nanette and his four daughters, Merritt, Chandler, Winsor, and Everett. Thom pays loving tribute to his family by hiding their name or initials in his paintings. Thom also pays honor to his friends and co-workers by painting in their initials or names in streetcars, license plates or even signposts.