I must admit to being a full-time romantic who will always have a deep and abiding affection for
France, a country that touches my heart and brings it to the forefront of my artistic expression! In
“Boardwalk Flowers”, a painting from my Robert Girrard years, I released my emotional enchantment
with this country in a variety of ways. I rendered the image in the style of the French impressionists,
a school of art established and furthered by many of the most romantic painters of their time;
Renoir, Monet and Degas to name but a few.
I delighted in the broad stroke approach, a very passionate way to apply oil and interpret a
subject. In the foreground a relaxed couple watches the endless ocean horizon; the woman sitting,
perhaps reading her latest penned poem of loving thoughts to her well-heeled husband. Beyond
this contented couple, a family relishes a day together; the mother joyfully looking on while her
husband and daughter walk hand-in-hand on the beach and ready themselves to brave the surf.
Listen with me to the flap of the flags in the wind, the eternal wash of the waves and the lonesome
call of the gull, sounds sure to arouse nostalgic reminiscence of your own times of peace at a
favorite seaside retreat.
In “Boardwalk Flowers” I hope you can feel the romance of your own heart-mate, the unbreakable
ties to your own family and the joy of your own treasured memories of peace as a gift of art from me
to you. And know; even now as I write this, I yearn to return to France, a country that truly speaks
the many “languages of love”. Will you join me?

- Thomas Kinkade