Thomas Kinkade

The whole Modernist lie is that art is about the artist.

I've always been drawn to artists who paint for the everyday person. I love the American illustrators.

I began my career creating art for an animated feature film, and it has been a life-long dream to tell some of the story of my own life - the story behind my art - through the medium of motion pictures.

Every painting I do blends time frames. The great thing about being an artist is I can make the past join the present in some reality of the future.

My paintings always feature trails that dissolve into mysterious areas, patches of light that lead the eye around corners, pathways, open gates, etc.

A still image attracts the viewer with an overall impact, then reveals smaller details upon further study.

I love audio books, and when I paint I'm always listening to a book. I find that my imagination really takes flight in the painting process when I'm listening to audio books.

Literature is the stringing together of pictures in words.

A painting has a lot of advantages over other forms of communication. Unlike a movie, you don't have to put it into a machine and turn it on. It's just there every day. It's not limited by the element of time. It's a constant part of the home.

I grew up in a broken home. My dad was out of the home when I was five years old. I never knew him very well.

What I paint touches on foundational life values. Home, family, peacefulness. And one of the messages I try to constantly get across is, 'Slow it down and enjoy every moment.'

My brother and I always had jobs and worked from a young age.

The disintegration of the culture starts with the artist. I'm on a crusade to turn the tide in the arts, to restore dignity to the arts and, by extension, to the culture.

The No. 1 quote critics give me is, 'Thom, your work is irrelevant.' Now, that's a fascinating, fascinating comment. Yes, irrelevant to the little subculture, this microculture, of modern art. But here's the point: My art is relevant because it's relevant to 10 million people. That makes me the most relevant artist in this culture.

I've had so much positive reaction and emotional fulfillment from the creation of my art and sharing it with everyday people that I never paid too much attention to the opinion of critics.

I've never been at odds with the world of contemporary artists. If there is any animosity, it's one-sided.

High culture is paranoid about sentiment. But human beings are intensely sentimental.

My whole life was absorbed with my art. I was known by my schoolmates as the kid who could draw.

This world is very dark, but in Heaven there is no darkness.

Art transcends cultural boundaries.

A piece of art is a compact form of the universe.

Each of us is a small part of God's plan. I'm a small part. I create paintings that are being used by God.

You have to expect spiritual warfare whenever you stand up for righteousness or call attention to basic values. It's just a matter of light battling the darkness. But the light wins every time. You can't throw enough darkness on light to put it out.

I try to embrace people with love, unconditional love, like Christ did.

It is easy to have a lot of paintings or projects hanging around that are 'almost done.'