Chris Simonite's Cubo-Weirdism Blog! A Blog about Chris Simonite's Art by Chris Simonite. Who the Hell else?

Please excuse the silly title of this blog post. You'll understand that I couldn't resist. And I know Sherlock isn't a curse word, but I thought it was amusing to put the * in there. I'm pro cursing, by the way. Curse away in the comments! So the real reason I mention cursing is because of that damned Benedict Cumberbatch. Okay, there was no reason to say "that damned…". Let's face it, I wanted to curse again. Anyway, a particular curse word seems to follow that incredibly famous actor around. You see, if you didn't know, his female fans refer to themselves as Cumberbitches. I only know this because my wife is a Cumberbitch. She has been one ever since she started watching Sherlock back in the early 2010s. [...]

I finally did it. I painted a landscape without *gasp* an animal in it! You may have seen some of my paintings of Cubo-Weirdist animals. In these paintings the animal in question is the focus of the painting. In many of these paintings, the environment they live in is only hinted at. Like this one of a lynx. You may have also seen that last year I did a number of paintings featuring a prominent animal. But in these ones I also put some focus on the landscape itself. I attempted to create Cubo-Weirdist landscapes in which to situate the animals. They got some very positive responses from the art going public when the biggest of these canvases were in a group exhibition last summer. One of them even sold, to my surprise and delight. This one is still available. [...]

For the last two weeks I've been blathering on and on about my art experience in 2022. But I know you, dear reader(s), are dying to know what you can expect from me in '23. Or maybe you stumbled on this here blog and decided to go ahead and read the damn thing. Either way, I appreciate it! Anyway, a couple of weeks ago I mentioned that I actually did manage to do over 100 paintings in '22. A goal I had achieved in both '20 and '21. At the beginning of last year, right here in this blog, I said I was pretty sure I wouldn't make it to that milestone. But as we begin 2023, I'm almost positive I won't make it to that goal this year. In fact, we are now half way through the first month of this year and so far I have only completed three paintings. At that rate I am on course to paint 72 pieces. But I'm not sure I'll make that many. [...]

I gotta say, the title of this post sure rolls off the tongue. Anyway, this is indeed part II of my '22 in review in which I muse about what worked and what didn't during that tumultuous year. My biggest take-away from 2022 is that people really seem to like my paintings of rock and pop stars. And I have to admit I'm almost surprised at how well those did sales-wise last year. I've talked to other artists who've done portraiture of the same subjects and they have told me that they are not big sellers for them. My suspicion is that the Cubo-Weirdist twist I put on my paintings may be what makes the difference for me. I'm guessing that if you want a portrait of Jimi Hendrix and you see nice hand painted one, you might think to yourself, "that's expensive, maybe I'll get a poster." But if you see my portrait of Jimi painted in my signature style, maybe you take a second look. And then maybe you might think, that's expensive, but I've never seen anything like it. And then go ahead a purchase it. I'm just guessing. Also, my paintings tend to be pretty affordable. Just sayin'! [...]

2022 was an eventful year for this here Cubo-Weirdist here. It was definitely the best year I've had so far since I started actively trying to sell my work. It's weird to think about it now, but when I finished my MFA back in 2012, I didn't think about my art career in terms of generating income. That actually made sense since painting was not the focus of my art practice at the time. But even when I started painting, I was mostly thinking about trying to show my work in public galleries, such as Canada's system of Artist Run Centres. When you show at one of these galleries you do not sell work. You do get paid a substantial fee, but it'll never make you a living. I wasn't having much luck with those galleries anyway, as they tend to focus on much more conceptual work than I prefer to make, so I eventually decided to try to think of my art career as a business. Having said that, I still like to show in galleries, and in fact did have a couple of works at a public gallery this past year. I'm referring to the Frost Shield Kerfuffle collectives Damaged Landscapes exhibition last summer. Hopefully I'll have some information on upcoming exhibitions this coming year, so stay tuned for that! [...]