Thomas Kinkade was born in Placerville, California. He grew up in a family that was, in his words “rich in the greatest form of wealth; a nurturing and affirming love.” From the age of 4, his calling as an artist was obvious. By the age of 16, he was an accomplished painter in oils under the apprenticeship of well known artist, Glen Wessels. His mother was his first collector, framing and decorating the family home with his childhood works.

Kinkade attended the Art Center College of Design in Pasadena, California. He spent a summer traveling the country with a college friend, another gifted artist, James Gurney. They traveled by railroad and recorded their journey in sketches, making subjects of whatever was available to them and to their imaginations. They published their journey as a book titled The Artist’s Guide to Sketching. It was a best seller and the book landed them a job at Ralph Baski Studios to paint the background for the animated feature film, Fire and Ice. It was here that Kinkade fine tuned his ability to manipulate light and depth.

In 1982, Kinkade married his childhood sweetheart, Nanette. In 1983, he left the motion picture industry to pursue and publish his own art.

Since his start, Kinkade has become known as the Painter of Light, and is considered America’s most collected living artist. He says, “I strive for three visual aspects in my work; soft edges, a warm palette, and an overall sense of light.” Kinkade considers his art as a mode of communicating his intense values and faith in God to millions around the world. He credits God for the ability and the inspiration for his paintings. He incorporates his wife’s initial “N” into his paintings and his four daughters often find their names in his work. His limited edition signed and numbered prints bear an artist stamp in the right hand corner that shows a number that varies per painting. This number is representative of how many “N”s he has hidden in the piece.