Chris Thomas: Seattle Artist Behind Negative Color Space Paintings
Seattle based Chris Thomas, an artist, is our guest for this episode.
Chris grew up in Renton, moved to Seattle for school in 2014, and graduated from the University of Washington in 2019 with a history degree and some architectural design coursework. A wine and paint night with his cousins that year sent him back to art. He taught himself acrylic painting from YouTube and a lot of Bob Ross, and landed on a surrealist space style. His breakout was a painting done in a negative color palette that looks normal through a phone camera filter. At the time of this recording he had gone full time with his art after working as a law firm file clerk.
Scott and Chris talk about why he sticks with acrylics, how a 16 by 20 inch canvas takes a little over 40 hours, and how he makes signed, numbered, double sided prints through CatPrint. They get into pricing, a commissioned piece for a client in Finland based on the Sampo from Finnish folklore, and how TikTok videos grew his following past 600,000. Chris also covers his science fiction influences, from Isaac Asimov to David A. Hardy, and his plans for YouTube.
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Founder and editor of Explore Washington State, which he started on Anderson Island in 2010. A lifelong Washington resident who has lived in Tacoma, Ellensburg, Olympia and Seattle and now calls Wenatchee home, Scott curates every place we recommend and answers reader questions himself. He also hosts the Exploring Washington State podcast.
