Move Over Kincade

It has been said that Thomas Kincade is the Painter of Light. So much so that his company has the term trademarked. As a Kincade aficionado, one of my favorite pastimes is trying on my Where's Waldo hat, -- eyeing through each square of canvas to find the stamp of his wife and the hidden jesus fish he cleverly masks in each of his "original" masterpieces. With that level of artistic genius, I haven't been so sure that there is room in this world for another contemporary master. But lo and behold, it could be argued that for what Kincade has brought to the art world in terms of reproducing light, Jim Warren has done with imagination.

Trained only by the heart, this Long Beach native fuses the reality of natural landscapes with fantasy, blending the lines between what is real, and what we wish were real. From unicorns to waterfalls, grassy knolls to women's manes, Warren, as he says so himself, puts the fine in fine art. His website describes him as a cross between Dali and Norman Rockwell. I'd like to add the tribute to Nagel, the aesthetic homage to spray paint art (which he probably learned from his Venice beach neighbors), and of course, a clear tip of the hat to one of the most classic films of all time, and I'm not talking about Snow White. Clearly, A Christmas Story was in mind when he thought of turning a plot of land into women's legs. Brilliant. Hopefully, he will soon offer his masterpieces on petrified pieces of wood. Slapped in layers of lacquer, I cannot think of a better piece of art to hang above my rotary phone.

I call this one the P.M. Dawn, as his decision to paint his own book into his painting reminds me of the song "Set Adrift on Memory Bliss," where P.M. Dawn kindly reminds us who is singing.














My interpretation of Snow White was also to place people kissing in the clouds, I don't know about you. Something about those dwarfs.

Perhaps if I could've envisioned a Ukranian woman in the arch the last time I was sitting on Lover's Beach, I might have actually liked Cabo San Lucas.

I will now lather my head in Timotei.