A Beacon To The Craft

by R.J. Taylor

While Jim and Mary Brown of Searcy were in California visiting their younger son, Tim, and his family, they were given an unexpected magazine assignment. Tim Brown works as a senior engineer at artist Thomas Kinkade's plant in Morgan Hill. At deadline, photos were desperately needed to illustrate an article entitled "Season of Thankfulness: Holiday Ornaments and Gifts" in the Kinkade magazine. Jim Brown had his Canon digital camera with him, and he had three subjects for his pictures: his wife, Mary; his daughter-in-law, Sarah; and his granddaughter Seanna, age 2.

Jim took 88 shots of the three generations doing craft projects on ornaments and decorations. Seven appeared with the story, and one of the seven was also used on the table of contents page.

Jim and Mary were back home in Searcy when they received a copy of "The Beacon," the magazine that featured Jim's photography and Mary's modeling. The magazine is a quarterly and the official publication of the Thomas Kinkade Collectors' Society. For helping with the pictures, the Browns received a framed picture of their choice. "Autumn Lane," a landscape by Thomas Kinkade, is now on a living room wall in their home.

Jim teaches math and physics at Harding Academy, and he and Mary used his week off at the Thanksgiving break to visit their family in California.

Tim, Sarah, and Seanna live in Gilroy, which is 12 miles from Morgan Hill. Tim commutes to his job and says it's an easy trip when compared to the driving connected with two previous California jobs--with IBM in San Jose and in Caliper Technologies of Mountain View.

Tim grew up in Searcy and attended Harding Academy. He studied mechanical engineering at Oklahoma Christian University and graduated college in 1997. He and his crew are responsible for putting Thomas Kinkade's paintings onto canvas. They are working now to come up with better ways to get the job done. Any method used must result in the artwork showing the light effects for which Kinkade is famous, Mary Brown said. "The finished product must be durable, resist fading, be easily cleaned, adaptable to various climates, and retain its beauty for many years."

Tim has been working for Kinkade since June 2004. In August, he and other engineers from the plant went to Barcelona, Spain, hoping to learn from other engineers how to improve the quality of reproduction of the paint-on-canvas finish. Sarah and Seanna were able to travel with Tim on the trip.

One of the good things about Tim's working for Thomas Kinkade is being able to work a normal work load when some companies are requiring longer hours. "Thomas Kinkade is a religious man and he wants to encourage quality family life," Mary said.

Thomas Kinkade often includes gazebos in his paintings, and there is one on the plant's grounds. "Sarah and Seanna sometimes lunch with Tim in the gazebo, and we do this when we visit, Mary said.