Continuing our focus on books for creatives, artists and worshipers, I want to point you to Billion Dollar Painter: The Triumph and Tragedy of Thomas Kinkade, Painter of Light by G. Eric Kuskey.

I enjoyed this honest review from Amazon:

“This is not the most sophisticated book. It’s not the most comprehensive book. But it is a really fascinating biography told from the point of view of a man who was a close friend and colleague of painter Thomas Kinkade through the best and worst of times. I actually had a hard time putting the book down due to its compelling narrative arc — naive but brilliant painter and his two pals dream up a little company that turns into a multi-billion dollar enterprise, before the wheels fall off.
Some may criticize the book for being too soft on Kinkade himself, letting him off the hook for some of the financial damage his company did to gallery dealers and soft-pedaling some of the painter’s vices. But I think readers can read between the lines of the author’s account and get a pretty full and interesting picture of the Painter of Light, who kept his hopeful gaze on the morning glow even as dusk closed in…”

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