Heaven must need...

[mightymanx]

...a bad ass paintjob!!!

REST IN PEACE Mr. Kinkade.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/mobileweb/2012/04/07/thomas-kinkade-dead_n_1409501.html

[ShortJohnSilver]

I never liked his paintings all that much, but I watched the movie about his early days, called Christmas Cottage, and he seemed like a pretty good guy.

[StreetsOfGold]

His paintings are pretty good. They certainly do have a style of their own.

[MNeagle]

Artist Thomas Kinkade's girlfriend accused of being gold-digger out for "money and fame"




http://www.insidebayarea.com/top-stories/ci_20471201/artist-thomas-kinkades-girlfriend-accused-being-gold-digger

The girlfriend of the late artist Thomas Kinkade -- recently described by Kinkade's brother as a "good person, a sweet person" -- is now being portrayed by lawyers for the artist's estate as a ruthless gold digger out to "tear down" Kinkade's reputation and do irreparable harm to his widow and children.

Kinkade's company, Windermere Holdings, acting as a trustee and executor of the Kinkade Family Trust, is seeking to keep Amy Pinto-Walsh quiet, claiming in court documents that she broke the rules of a confidentiality agreement she signed last year by talking to reporters the morning Kinkade was found dead in his Monte Sereno home and threatening to reveal Kinkade's business and personal secrets.

"This threat is not just a mean-spirited act of betrayal, but a calculated attempt to garner money and fame at the expense of the grieving Kinkade family, including his wife and four daughters," according to a request for a restraining order filed by the holding company.

On April 16, Judge Patricia Lucas granted a 15-day restraining order against Pinto-Walsh, ruling that there are "extreme circumstances" to issue the order even though she apparently hadn't been served notice of the proceeding.

Pinto-Walsh did not return calls Tuesday. But Kinkade's brother, Patrick, a university professor in Texas, said he was surprised to hear about the restraining order. He said he just had a pleasant phone conversation with Pinto-Walsh on Sunday evening and was also close to Kinkade's widow, Nanette, with whom Kinkade was estranged.


"Amy was Thom's girlfriend," Patrick Kinkade said last week. "They enjoyed each other immensely. She's a good person, a sweet person. She cared about Thom."
The morning of April 6, Pinto-Walsh had called 911 about 11:15 a.m., telling dispatchers that Kinkade, 54, had been drinking all night and wasn't breathing. She later told reporters that she was with him when he died and that he had a heart condition.

"He died in his sleep, very happy, in the house he built, with the paintings he loved and the woman he loved," Pinto-Walsh told this newspaper three days after Kinkade's death -- the same day Windermere filed an initial request for a restraining order against her. The documents also dispute the date of Kinkade's death, stating that Kinkade died the night of April 5, not the next morning. The coroner is still investigating the cause of death.

In the confidentiality agreement Pinto-Walsh signed in February 2011, she was referred to as his companion and personal assistant who was privy to "trade secrets," including Kinkade's painting techniques and "use of computer technology in painting."

Kinkade was known as the "Painter of Light" for his storybook images of cottages with candlelit windows, stone bridges and lamp posts. He was one of the best-known artists in the country and made millions of dollars by selling not his originals, but scores of reproductions that had been touched up with brush strokes by craftsmen at his Morgan Hill factory.

Art aficionados criticized Kinkade's work as tacky, but legions of fans adored it, including his paintings with Christian themes. One former Kinkade executive called his work "a 20-second vacation" for fans who liked to imagine themselves in Kinkade's bucolic scenes.

The life Kinkade lived behind the security gate of his Monte Sereno estate, however, was anything but serene -- and what damage Pinto-Walsh could cause to Kinkade's reputation that Kinkade didn't already cause to himself is unclear.

Not only had Kinkade and his wife of 30 years separated two years ago, but his relationship with Pinto-Walsh appeared volatile as well, according to court documents.

Although he was a generous philanthropist and contributed to many local causes -- he even bought a homeless man's paintings -- his bouts with alcoholism gave him a reputation in downtown Los Gatos over the past couple of years as an occasionally belligerent drunk.

Pinto-Walsh, 48, began dating Kinkade 18 months ago and moved into his estate on Ridgecrest Avenue. On her LinkedIn page, she describes herself as a senior business-development manager at a local consulting firm.

In 2010, Kinkade was arrested in Carmel on suspicion of drunken driving and ever since was accompanied around town by an armed bodyguard who doubled as his driver.

It's that bodyguard, Dean Baker, who said in court documents that Kinkade's family had reason to fear Pinto-Walsh. Baker, who traveled with Kinkade and his girlfriend on numerous vacations in the U.S. and abroad, said that Pinto-Walsh was prone to "impulsive and erratic" behavior.

"On one occasion Pinto-Walsh made a threat to Mr. Kinkade along the lines of 'I will tear you down,' " Baker said in his declaration filed April 8. "I would expect Pinto-Walsh to disclose confidential information."

A close friend of the Kinkade family, Linda Raasch -- who along with her husband, Ken, are godparents to the Kinkade children -- is equally concerned. The morning of Kinkade's death, she went to the Monte Sereno home and was surprised that Pinto-Walsh had gathered family photos and memorabilia that she planned to share with the media, according to Raasch's declaration in the court file.

"I told her they are private and confidential and would cause great emotional distress" if released to the public. But Pinto-Walsh, Raasch said, was "unmoved by my entreaties."
http://analytics.apnewsregistry.com/analytics/v2/image.svc/571/RWS/www.insidebayarea.com/CAI/ci_20471201/E/prod/PC/Basic/AT/A



http://www.insidebayarea.com/top-stories/ci_20471201/artist-thomas-kinkades-girlfriend-accused-being-gold-digger

[ximmy]

I like his style but way too commercialized... having one in the house only demonstrates how susceptible you are to commercialism

[zap]

I like his style but way too commercialized... having one in the house only demonstrates how susceptible you are to commercialism

Hey ! I got one in my house. :X!!

[ximmy]

Hey ! I got one in my house. :X!!

eek.. sorry, except you zap, your keen eye and appreciation for fine art is why there is one in your house...

[MNeagle]

Hey ! I got one in my house. :X!!

So does my Mom. I just have the "Inspirational Cards".

[zap]

eek.. sorry, except you zap, your keen eye and appreciation for fine art is why there is one in your house...

LOL ximmy ! the picture is of a cute little cabin in the woods, how can you not appreciate that ? ;)

RIP Mr. Kinkade

[ximmy]

I used to belong to a church that if there wasn't one somewhere in your house you were considered an aberration. "Say, where is your Kinkade hanging"

That is my apology...

[MNeagle]

zap, there's a slide show at the link you may enjoy.

[chad]

not quite kincaid, but close. i have an original jim hansel. he painted it for my step-dad as a thank you gift for a hunting trip on one of our family's properties.

[zap]

I used to belong to a church that if there wasn't one somewhere in your house you were considered an aberration. "Say, where is your Kinkade hanging"

That is my apology...

No apology necessary , I get it ximmy. :)

[ximmy]

not quite kincaid, but close. i have an original jim hansel. he painted it for my step-dad as a thank you gift for a hunting trip on one of our family's properties.

I have a couple of framed early prints from Maxfield Parrish & Atkinson Fox...

[chad]

don't know about parish, but atkinson fox is cool.

[sirgonzo420]

Kinkade was luciferian.

Get it?

[Santa]

Kinkade was known as the "Painter of Light" for his storybook images of cottages with candlelit windows, stone bridges and lamp posts. He was one of the best-known artists in the country and made millions of dollars by selling not his originals, but scores of reproductions that had been touched up with brush strokes by craftsmen at his Morgan Hill factory.

"Painter of Light" Luciferian... Yeah, I get it. Lol...

No offense Zap,

but Kinkade hadn't painted anything in many years. He had a factory in which he hired people to paint for him.
He was an entrepreneur, a hustler more along the lines of Walt Disney than a classical artist.

Oh well. I may not appreciate his bullshit "commercial postcard style artwork", but I'm still sorry about his untimely death.
Sounds like he was living hard and fast.