As we approach the year 2000, I feel compelled as an artist to celebrate not the passing of the old millennium, but the beginning of the new millennium. To me, the new millennium represents a pivotal point in human history – a chance to change the world for the better.

As I ponder the events of the last thousand years, I see much evidence of the darkness of this world. Yet rather than spend our time curing the darkness, if each of us would let our light shine the world would be a much brighter place indeed. I truly believe that this next millennium will come to be characterized as the “Millennium of Light” and I pray my Sunrise, A Prayer of Hope for the Millennium of Light will be symbolic of a new dawning of God’s grace and love in the years ahead.

You cannot see the sun in this painting, but rather you can see the rays of light. The unseen sun is situated in the center, as God should be at the center of our lives. I even included a hidden cross in the rays of sunlight to go along with the three points on the cross and the three rock ledges to honor the Holy Trinity. Let’s pray together that God’s light will shine anew in this new millennium.

It may be that all of us carry in our souls a memory of Eden, the glorious garden where we came to know our Creator. That could account for the attraction I’ve long felt for gardens – resplendent in riotous colors and tranquil in their shadowy private spaces. Nanette and I take advantage of the romance of gardens to enrich our love. We’ve sought out their sheltered nooks to meet and talk and dream and remember.

Pools of Serenity, second in The Garden of Prayer Collection, speaks to those personal associations… and to something more profound. I’ve reached into the core of my spiritual life to express what I can only call the wonderfully comforing friendship I feel with my God.

This serene haven – a breathtaking, mirror bright pool reflecting an abundance of flowers, embraced by the shelter of a monumental stone gazebo – expresses the “peace that passeth understanding” that rewards my communion with the divine. There is an air of breathless anticipation here…and up on the distant hill, is that a gentle stranger who awaits?

” A quiet evening, a peaceful time, a life worth living, because you’re mine” ~ Thomas Kinkade

The heart has its special places: quiet retreats, fragrant with the sweet perfume of flowers, bathed in the romantic light of sunset, soothed by the music of a laughing brook and droning bees. Places made possible by the precious gift of love.

I compose my quatrain to remind myself that two people who care for each other can create a very private world, colored by shared memory. Truly a place in the heart. The though delights me. It has inspired me to create a three-piece painting collection celebrating the creative power of love. Each painting illuminates a line in the poem: “A Quiet Evening,” “A Peaceful Time,” and for “a life worth living,” I created Moonlight Cottage as the third and final in my Places in the Heart Collection.

We begin with the passionate fire of sunset, the graceful shelter of a magnificent weeping willow beside a quaint stone cottage p the Edenic tranquility of a pristine stream flowing through a lavish flower garden. Here is A Quiet Evening, born in the hearts of lovers.

I was raised with the majestic views of the mighty Sierra Nevada mountain range. As a boy, I would kick and camp surrounded by the clear evidence of God’s hand in creation. In Away From It All, I hope you feel the embrace of a loving God and most importantly to center yourself in that comforting retreat as I did.

The moon watches over the forest’s transition from day to night as the lone fisherman returns to his welcoming cabin after a long day on the river. With the soothing sounds of the waterfall and the crackling of the campfire, his faithful companion waits patently for his return. It is my hope an prayer that as you journey with me, you will find the calm and inner peace one can discover being Away From It All. God Bless!

” ‘Twas the night before Christmas, when all through the house

not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse”

~ Clement Moore’s ‘Twas the Night Before Christmas

I painted a home that could have been the setting for Clement Moore’s unforgettable poem earlier in my career. It is the centerpiece of Victorian Garden II – where it sits in a sylvan garden, embraced by lavish and dew-drenched blossoms.

The Night Before Christmas revisits the stately Victorian mansion while the change of season works a dramatic transformation of the scene. Snow shrouds the foliage, replacing the gemlike dazzle of flowers in Victorian Garden II with a tapestry woven in shade of white. The lamp is festooned with wreath and bow, a sled stands ready-to-ride on the picket fence, and a jaunty snowman greets the guests.

“I try to walk a new pathway to its end” ~ Journal of Thomas Kinkade

What’s around the next bend? What lies at the end of the trail? When I walk an unfamiliar path, curiosity drives me on. The Forest Chapel portrays a daydream I’ve had many times: often while hiking some wooded trail I’ve come upon a spectacular flowering meadow and thought what a wonderful place to worship God. The idea of a chapel in an unspoiled natural setting has intrigued me for years.

In The Forest Chapel I have tried to capture a harmony between what’s within and what’s without. Light glows from the chapel windows, suggesting the warm spirit of the fellowship within while shafts of morning light filer golden through the trees, dappling the forest with a divine light. The sweet melody of psalm singing rises up, to be joined by the gentle murmur of the brook that flows past the house of worship. A Holy Spirit dwells in the chapel and in the glade that houses it. Both proclaim the presence of God.

San Francisco, Market Street is the first San Francisco painting since my well-known San Francisco, A View Down California Street from Nob Hill painting to involve cable cars – and this itself is cause for celebration. Perhaps that’s why I couldn’t resist including numerous high-flying flags in my painting. To me, every visit to San Francisco feels like a celebration.

In San Francisco, Market Street I took the liberty of turning back the clock to a vivid and very colorful era. The time is approximately 1900 – before the great earthquake transformed the face of the city and automobile traffic filled its picturesque streets. It was the era when the cable cars were an efficient way of getting around the City by the Bay, and when Market Street was truly the heart of San Francisco.

It was an ear when ferries tied the city to bustling communities across the bay and dray wagons hauled products and produce to and from the busy port. In fact, you can see the Ferry Buildings in the distance in San Francisco, Market Street. Also featured in my painting are the Chronicle Building and Central Tower – left and right, respectfully – the latter of which is often proclaimed to be San Francisco’s first “skyscraper.” But the real landmarks of San Francisco are those charming little cars that make their way up the towering hills and winding streets of this beautiful city. Cable cars themselves are part of the reason San Francisco is still the city where I left my heart.

I began this painting in Norman Rockwell’s famous studio near Arlington, Vermont. Many charming New England cottages made their way into St. Nicholas Circle. In this idyllic spot time stands still, and it’s Christmas all year ’round.

The heart of town is the skating pond and the Christmas tree; the church and town hall, the shops and homes all circle the pond like wreaths. Horse-drawn sleighs are the only transport, the little lanes have fanciful holiday names, lights and bows deck the trees, and snowmen stand vigil on the hillside.

When a close friend lost loved ones, I was amazed to see the serenity and peace that filled his heart. It was almost as if, despite the hardship of parting, he was already anticipating the joyful reunion that lay ahead. He reminded us that he would “see them again soon.”

I was so touched with the grace and hope God had given this man that I decided to do a painting as a tribute to the hope many of us share of the better life that lies ahead. I chose a garden with a rambling stone walkway climbing up through flower hedges to illustrate my theme. In my painting The Garden of Promise, as we make our way up the stony path, we seek to reach the top where the brilliant purity of a white dogwood in the sunlight greets us with the hope of what lies beyond the gate.

There is a garden, a place of peace promised to each of us, and the gate lies open to those who wish to come in. My prayer is that my portrayal of The Garden of Promise will remind many of this hope that lies ahead. As one anonymous chorus puts it:

“Beyond the gate will peace await, And joy to fill each heart.

A fragrant bower every hour, And love that never parts.”

I’m inviting you to a Christmas party unlike any you’ve ever attended—because it takes place a hundred years ago! In my paintings, I love turning back the clock to a simpler era. That’s what my Victorian Christmas II is all about; it brings my favorite holiday and a glorious historical period alive on canvas.

Thomas Kinkade