A View From Cannery Row, Monterey by Thomas Kinkade ~ Published December, 2003 - Plein-air painting often becomes a public performance. The very act of setting up easel and canvas invariably draws a crowd. When I painted A View from Cannery Row, Monterey, I took the process one step further, by inviting an audience of over three hundred collectors to join me as I worked.

In a sense, I painted for another audience, as well - for John Steinbeck and the memorable characters he assembled in his Cannery Row: Mac, Doc, Lee Chong, and Dora Floyd. I like to think that the energy of their lives guided my hand as I worked.

I began by sketching in the painting in subtle tones of blue and grey, and then added the bold colors of the wharf buildings. I worked to a chorus of gull cries, and seals that seemed to bark in harmony with the rolling surf. I tried to capture the play of light as it glistened on the waves. As I painted, a brisk breeze brought a tang of ocean air to my nostrils.

Working out under God's sky is a total sensory experience that helps the artist capture the spirit of a place. Cannery Row, in Monterey, evokes the vibrant energy of a vigorous lifestyle through its picturesque setting, its rough-hewn buildings, and its fond literary associations. A View from Cannery Row, Monterey expresses all of that in a way only a painting can.