May 14, 2011

"DREAMS DO COME TRUE!"

For a very long time, I have been a huge fan of Thomas Kinkade, The Painter of Light. I have collected and read several of his books over the years, and nearly 12 years ago, I bought my first two Thomas Kinkade paintings. Those two painting have been a special part of our home all these years. Recently, my family obtained another Thomas Kinkade painting from a local art gallery which was going out of business. We got a tremendous deal that we could not pass up. We found another art gallery which framed the unframed piece of art we bought, and in the process, we found out that Thomas Kinkade's brother, Patrick Kinkade, was going to be part of an art festival that was taking place at this gallery this weekend. Dreams do come true, because I never in my wildest dreams ever would have thought that I would meet the brother of Thomas Kinkade!

At first when my husband asked me if I wanted to go to the event, I was not sure if this would be something that I would enjoy. I was not sure if my family would fit-in with a bunch of arties or people who buy a lot of expensive artwork. We are just an average, ordinary family scraping to get by. I thought for sure that we would be out of place at such an event; however, I told my husband if he made the arrangements that I would go with him. Thank God I said this, and thank God we went, because it was an amazing experience! My entire family including our 14 year old son had an amazing time! Patrick Kinkade is truly an amazingly humble, entertaining, funny character of a man! He and my son were joking back and forth with one another, and when my son told him that he was interested in stop-animation, Patrick stopped hand-highlighting our painting, and he turned around in his chair, focused directly on my son, and had a conversation with him about where he should go to film school.

Not only did we meet Patrick Kinkade, but we also met a Disney artist by the name of Mike Kupka. My son really enjoyed spending time with Mike and talking with him, because he has also done Star Wars artwork for George Lucas. My son is a huge Star Wars fan, so this was right up his alley. My son even asked Mike at the end of the evening if he could get his picture taken with him. I could tell that my entire family had an amazing time at this event.

Never give up on your dreams, because you have no idea what might be in store for you that is just around the next corner. Years ago when I bought my first Thomas Kinkade paintings, I never thought that I would be meeting Thomas Kinkade's brother. However, tonight was a night that I will never forget! Tonight has reminded me to reach for your dreams and to dream big! Dreams truly do come true!