Simpler Times

by Anne Christian Buchanan, Anne Christian Buchanan (Contributor)

More than 20 full–color paintings of nostalgic, heartwarming scenes accompany Thomas’ rich, reflective text. In this personal glimpse into the artist’s life, you’ll discover his thoughts on living, including keeping perspective and creating balance.

Genres: Art, Inspirational, Nonfiction, Christian

112 pages, Hardcover

First published July 1, 1996

Reviews

[Candace · Rating 4 out of 5]

I pulled this old treasure off the shelf for a re-read. It is still as beautiful and peaceful of a read as it was years ago, with plenty of points to ponder.

[Tym · Rating 4 out of 5]

Kinkade’s paintings never grow old or fail to evoke a strong nostalgic desire to live deep in the country, some of his words failed to resonate and perhaps a little too sugary sweet for me but worth the look nonetheless

[Becca · Rating 3 out of 5]

I've never been a big fan of Kinkade's art. The light and colors and shapes are all just a bit overdone, in my opinion, making his paintings feel stuffy and awkward. (As you can tell, I'm not a practiced art critic. This is simply the way his paintings have affected me.)

As I read this book and looked at the accompanying illustrations, I began to develop a taste for his work. I'm still not a fan, but several paintings in this book impressed me. Maybe I've never slowed down and truly appreciated his art before.

The message of simplicity is refreshing and . . . a bit cliché? Don't ask me how it manages to be both!

This is a lovely coffee table book.

[Kev Willoughby · Rating 4 out of 5]

Somewhat haunting to read Kinkade's words, knowing how his life turned out in the end. He writes extensively here of his love for his wife and family, but he was estranged from them during the last couple of years of his life. There's still a lot to enjoy here between his beautiful art (which is unreal in the sense that many of his works look like places only accessible in dreams) and his observations of living:

"Most of us are so accustomed to overstimulation that peace feels strange to us; it makes us nervous. Simplicity can be an acquired taste, especially in a society that revels in complexity." (he wrote that in 1996! and it still resonates loudly in 2020.)

His advice on fulfillment and refreshment in life:
"Find a place or an activity that gives your senses a chance to unwind and lets you catch a fresh vision of peacetime possibilities. Furnish it comfortably. Make it beautiful. Use it often."

"My work is a retreat for me... I live in my paintings as I work on them, and I deliberately paint scenes that serve as places of refuge for battle-weary people."

Refreshing read and his paintings are enhanced by his words here.

[Nicole · Rating 4 out of 5]

Just randomly picked this up at a library book sale about a year ago. I love his artwork and his novels so I thought this might be interesting. It's a good book to read and reflect on your life with. It has given me ideas of how id like to live a little simpler and get more out of life once the weather starts to get warmer. It was so sad reading it and knowing he is dead. Overall it was quite enjoyable.

[LeighAnne · Rating 5 out of 5]

A refreshing read indeed!

[Ann Baxter · Rating 2 out of 5]

I’m not going to finish this. As I read about the artists ideal life, and granted, this was written in 1996, I wondered if he had followed through with his high ideals of a simple, Christ centered, life. A little Google goes a long way to ruin a mans reputation. Turns out he died years ago from over intoxication and an overdose of Valium. He was separated from his wife and living with a girlfriend. Knowing all that spoiled the book for me. I will look elsewhere for inspiration on living a simpler, slower life.

[Cheri Edwards · Rating 5 out of 5]

Pretty Amazing Book! I picked this up at a thrift shop for $2. I love the paintings & his words....very profound. I'm from Northern California (Redwoods) but now I live in a filthy city for work. One of these days I'll go back to where I used to live.

[Danni · Rating 3 out of 5]

very pretty pictures

[Charissa · Rating 4 out of 5]

A beautiful, inspiring message about what's truly important in life, with lovely, peace-bringing images throughout.

[Art · Rating 4 out of 5]

Slow down, take time to think, meditate, smell the roses, love, etc. The text of the book is accompanied by Kinkade artwork. An enjoyable read with a good message.

[Sue J · Rating 5 out of 5]

In a word. Beautiful. Illustrations and thoughts

[Jason · Rating 5 out of 5]

Inspirational, poetic, heartfelt, and soothing.
I enjoyed reading a small part every morning through winter.

[Nathan Albright · Rating 5 out of 5]

I had not seen this particular book on the shelf beside me until the book (along with a puzzle) fell off of the bookshelf into my dirty laundry hamper and startled me awake in the middle of the night. When I saw the book in the morning, I figured that it looked like a book well worth reading. After all, I am a fan of the art of the late Thomas Kinkade [1] and was curious to see what he had written in a book where he got to lay aside his brush and easel and take up the pen and keyboard to express his thoughts in words, to defend his own personal philosophy and his view of art. In light of the fact that his feelings of tension and stress led him to commit suicide, I figured it would be a poignant book to read in light of the author's death, and the fact that the author's work has long been an inspiration to me made it rather touching to think about how the author conceived of his own life and his own work. Being a somewhat sensitive artist type who tends to appreciate reading about the lives and thinking processes of other artists, this book seemed like a natural one for me to enjoy, despite it nearly falling on top of me in the course of a night of troubled sleep.

This book, which was published in Oregon, consists of nine chapters where the author expresses his love for simpler times. The author urges readers to make a separate peace with the difficulties and stresses and anxieties of the contemporary age, encourages readers to keep their perspective, welcome themselves into their own lives, heed the simplifying voice of creation, engage in unhurried imagination, keep a balance between work and play, add romance to their lives whether they have romantic partners or not, cultivate a hobo's heart of exploration, and let their light shine by living not only for today but for tomorrow as well. In reading this short book of a bit over 100 pages, the reader gets a great sense as to who the author is a man as well as an artist, and the picture is largely an appealing one. The book contains prints of more than thirty of Kinkade's own beautiful and light-filled paintings and also contains the author's expression of his love for his wife and daughters, for his desire to overcome his upbringing in a broken home, and his own highly romanticized realism as an artist. He expresses his longing to be remembered for his work despite his knowledge that changing artistic tastes may threaten that longevity, and his hope is certainly a noble and worthy one.

This is a book I would wholeheartedly recommend to readers who appreciate art and who like to hear artists defend themselves and their own moral and creative worldview. The art is, as expected, beautiful and romantic, the text is filled with its own romanticism and its own longing and concern, and one feels the tension and stress of the artist trying to overcome the push for empire, dealing with the tedium of signing thousands of prints because of their appeal to a mass audience he appears not to have directly courted. The artist as a conflicted soul striving for love and peace is here displayed in elegant touches, artistic turns of phrase, and passionate intensity. A fair-minded reader who has an interest in the author's art will likely view the author's death with a fair amount of sadness, especially as the author himself broaches the subject of suicide and comments that his art has prompted others to choose life rather than death, even if he was, in the end, overwhelmed himself by the despair that he fought against so bravely. Let us hope that at last he has found the peace from the turmoil within that he sought for so long through his art and family.

[1] See, for example:

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2012...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2013...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

https://edgeinducedcohesion.blog/2016...

[Concetta Kellough · Rating 5 out of 5]

Great sentiment and illustrations even if it is tainted a bit by Kinkade's lifestyle.