Tag Archives: art

Welcome Again

Posted on by
Reply

It is time again for those of us who are artists, artisans and specialty shopkeepers in the little town of Otterville, to open our doors and welcome visitors from all over Southwestern Ontario.  This is our 20th year holding Welcome Back to Otterville, a studio tour that was founded by my good friend Sue Goossens years before I moved here, and continues to change and evolve as do the participants.

A press release for our tour follows – please feel free to publish the release as we are on a limited advertising budget!  We are very grateful to Ashlyn Kernaghan for writing this up for us.

Welcome Back to Otterville Studio Tour Celebrates 20 Years

By Ashlyn Kernaghan
Glendale Student

On the weekend of November 19th and 20th, the artists and crafters who call the historic village of Otterville home will be opening up their doors for the 20th annual studio tour.  Visit Otterville and browse through unique shops and studios. Meet the artists and experience a world of creativity.  Studios and shops are open from 10am – 5pm and each day and the event is absolutely free to attend.

This year the studio tour includes 6 local artists – watercolours, oils, acrylics and mixed media – who will showcase the best of their best throughout the weekend in their homes or studios.  The participating artists include Mae Leonard, Lianne Todd, Linda Hoffman, Trudy Verberne, Shirley Hokke, and Sue Goossens.   In Bloom Designs featuring the jewellery of Jillian Driedger will be in the old general store in Hawtrey.  Ralph Moore & Sons has a large selection of bird seed and feeders and all things bird!  Shawn Pinnoy, owner of Styx and Skids, and Nordale Woodworking are new to the tour this year.  Shawn Pinnoy creates up-cycled decor including wreaths, bird houses, barn board signs and much more.  Nordale Woodworking, owned by Bryan Mertens, specializes in the production and sales of solid wood furniture and outdoor poly lawn furniture.  Nordale Woodworking is open all year.

All participants on the tour live in Otterville and area and create their own unique products or own a shop in town.  The event has evolved throughout the past 20 years with three of the original participants still on the tour – Sue Goossens, Linda Hoffman and Shirley Hokke.

“Artists truly enjoy meeting new visitors, old friends and sharing their passion for the arts.”
“Each year the tour attracts visitors from all over Southwestern Ontario from Windsor to Toronto,” said tour organizer Goossens. “People are always impressed with the quality of the artwork that is available.  We have the reputation of having many accomplished artists in Otterville.”

This self-directed tour provides the opportunity to personally explore the creative approach of various artists, along with the chance to wrap up some Christmas shopping.  Tour participants can visit as few or as many of the artists as they wish, over one or both days.  The Otter Creek Golf Course club house will be open for lunch Saturday and Sunday.
Welcome Back to Otterville brochures and maps can be found at participating sites, the Station Arts Centre in Tillsonburg, and online at http://www.welcomebacktootterville.ca.  Look for yellow flags that mark the studios.

Styx and Skids is not on the map, but can be found just around the corner from Linda Hoffman’s studio, on Grove St.
For more information call 519-879-6352 or visit www.welcomebacktootterville.ca

 

Here is the map of the tour.  Hope you can make it out!

wbtocardback2016flatmedwbtocardfront2016dsm

New designs…

Posted on by
1

It came to my attention recently that my site was not terribly friendly for those who are unaccustomed to reading blogs, and that I should make the images of my work more accessible to the attention span of the casual visitor.  So, I spent a little time the other day doing just that.  The home page is now a static gallery of my fractal work, and the blog has its own new page on the menu.  Please have a look at the newly designed site – is there anything that you as a viewer would suggest to improve it?  I am open to suggestion – although there are of course limits to what I can do since I am using a template.

Now, it’s time for me to introduce another fractal that you may not have seen yet.  I’ve exhibited it already but you may have missed it.  This one was difficult to title.  What I saw in it first, changed for me, until I was seeing it a number of different ways.  Perhaps that is why it appeals to me so much.  I decided it deserved a name fitting its ‘behaviour’, one that would allow the viewer to perceive it their own way as well.  So, I called it “Indeterminate”.  This image is a small watermarked version of the digital image used to create the piece of art, as photographing the final art printed on acrylic proves difficult with all the reflections.  If you’d like to tell me what you see in it, I would love to hear – but please do it in a private message using the contact page.  I would like all viewers to see it with fresh eyes uninfluenced by the perceptions of others!

Indeterminate. Fractal Digital Image. Available as an original single edition print on acrylic, 20x20". Lianne Todd. $360

Indeterminate. Fractal Digital Image. Available as an original single edition print on acrylic, 20×20″. Artist Lianne Todd. $375.00

Halls Creek Festival

Posted on by
Reply

September 10 & 11 is the Halls Creek Festival of Creativity in Ingersoll, and I will be participating again!

This festival was good fun last year and I kind of wished I was one of the attendees rather than an exhibitor – lots of learning and creating going on all over the place, and great live music most of the time.

I plan to have some of my fractals there – last year I ONLY brought the fractal metal prints – but I think I will also bring some paintings of fractals this year and some other paintings as well.  I also hope to do some painting while I’m there.

Check out the website for details.

halls-creek-poster-2016-sm

An Archetypal Image

Posted on by
Reply

I think I have mentioned before how I see many fractals as somewhat archetypal in nature.  We have, in our decorative past, incorporated many motifs that turn out to be quite common in fractal geometry.  The swirls and whorls, the spirals and branches, the radiating patterns… it is like we knew about fractals before we knew about fractals.  But of course we did, didn’t we?  Because fractals are the shapes of nature, and we are a part of nature ourselves, and surrounded by it.  We noticed the regular and irregular natural patterns around us and we appreciated them.  We began to find them beautiful. Then we began to associate them with ideas, and some of them became symbolic.

This particular fractal is one of those ones that seems to be archetypal.  Of course the cross shape, as a symbol, is much more ancient than the Christian religion.  This is more complicated than a simple cross, though.  What other associations does your mind bring to this image?

Symbol. Digital fractal art on metal. Single edition print. 16x16". Lianne Todd

Symbol. Digital fractal art on metal. Single edition print. 16×16″. Artist Lianne Todd. Private Collection.

I hope you’ll come out to my studio this coming weekend during the Oxford Studio Tour to see this piece and more.

Oxford Studio Tour coming up!

Posted on by
Reply

It’s April, and that means it is almost time for our annual Oxford Studio Tour here in Oxford County, Ontario.  My studio has been one of the locations for this tour since its inception nine years ago (I also look after the website and some other stuff!).  I will have plenty of work here for visitors to see.   If you’ve never been out on the tour, it is a great way to celebrate spring, which I am hoping is right around the corner… here is a view out my front window yesterday:

P1030893

So yeah, we’re not quite there yet.  But the daffodils in my back yard are really trying to bloom.  The ones out front are a little slower but they are hopeful.  Here is a painting I did of the ones out front a few years ago – it’s still available, along with several other watercolours in a variety of styles:

NewGrowthThey’ll get there.

One of the newer fractals that I showed at our recent Artists of Oxford show at Ingersoll Creative Arts Centre, is Diaphanous.  It will be here for the studio tour, along with some other new pieces.  I will even have a couple of Artifact scarves available for purchase.

Diaphanous. Original Digital Art, available printed as single edition on acrylic. 20x20"

Diaphanous. Original Digital Art, available printed as single edition on acrylic. 20×20″

I hope if you live in the region, you’ll grab a friend or three, hop in the car, and make a day of it.  There is a ton of talent to see on this tour, as well as a lot of lovely countryside, and I especially hope you’ll make it out to my location, #6, at the south end of the county.  Here is a google map of the whole tour.

Keep an eye out for our red posters advertising the tour around the region, and our printed brochures designed by artist and graphic designer Rhonda Franks (she’s at location #7 along with Sue Goossens, who is the founder for the tour).  The brochures include descriptions and maps to help guide you around the tour.  If you’d like me to mail you a brochure, please contact me!

Show opening this weekend

Posted on by
Reply

The artists’ group I am a member of, the Artists of Oxford, is having a group show at the Ingersoll Creative Arts Centre and the opening for the show is this Sunday, 2-4 pm.  I’ve got two pieces in the show, and they are both digital fractals printed on acrylic.  One is called Diaphanous, the other is called Indeterminate.

I hope you’ll be able to join us for the opening or make it to the show while it is on!

Artists-of-Oxford---postcard-good

back of invite to email

Wearable Fractals!

Posted on by
1

I am very excited to share with you a new direction I am taking with my fractal art.  I was approached a couple of weeks ago by VIDA, which is a global partnership of co-creators – artists and designers all over the world, makers in Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka and Latin America, and consumers all over the world.  They are backed by, among others, Google Ventures and Universal Music Group. One of the reasons I accepted their proposal is their socially responsible outlook.  The makers receive a living wage, as well as a basic literacy and math education they wouldn’t ordinarily get.  The artists receive ten percent of all sales from their collection, and nothing is made until it is ordered.

I love the idea of my fractal art being worn!  What a great way to show off the natural beauty of the fractals while increasing my exposure as an artist.  I have chosen, at least as a starting point, to only use either my original watercolour fractals as designs, or digital fractals I haven’t printed on metal or acrylic.  My first pieces are silk square scarves, as they worked well with designs I had already created.  One of them has been designed using the software Mandelbulb 3D.  Click on the image below to visit my VIDA collection and shop online!

VIDApage

November News

Posted on by
Reply

I am very pleased to announce that some of my fractal art will now be available at the Art Gallery of Lambeth!  I grew up in that area so it is really nice to be able to display my art there.

I still have many pieces at my home studio/gallery though, and that’s a good thing, because this weekend is Welcome Back to Otterville, our 19th annual Studio Tour.

For details, please see my previous post. As always, I have a few things left to do before morning so I will keep this short!

You could also visit my other site, liannetodd.wordpress.com, to see a couple of new pieces I will have on display.

KONICA MINOLTA DIGITAL CAMERAWBTOCardBack2015sm

You are invited…

Posted on by
Reply

I have the detailed information for the show I told you about a while ago, and I also want to tell you about another show, so please scroll down!

This is a free event, and there will be refreshments served.  The Elm Hurst is a lovely place to dine, and the food is really good, but don’t feel obligated to stay for dinner if you can’t.  The gallery is in the hallway between the lobby and the restaurant.

OCCElmhurst_07_16 lowres

 

On July 19 I will also be participating in a one-day outdoor show at the Quai du Vin Estate Winery, called Off the Wall!…and Off the Vine.  The winery is near Sparta, ON.  My tent will be in the area called “El Prado”.  At this show I will mainly be exhibiting my more traditional watercolours, which you may see more of at my other site, liannetodd.wordpress.com.  I will have some new winery-themed pieces.  Here are the details:

OTW Poster Web

Following the Patterns of Nature

Posted on by
Reply

It is an absolutely beautiful day today in Otterville, full of colour and the patterns of nature, so I plan to spend some time outside.  It was during another beautiful day a few years back, hiking in the woods at Awenda Provincial Park, that I came across many kinds of fungus.  I took a number of photos, and an edited version of one of them ended up as part of this image I am presenting to you today.

On another completely separate occasion, I was creating fractal images and found that, as is often the case, there were distinctly natural and vegetative features recognizable in one.  I saved it, and later on when looking through all of my photos, I noticed how well the features in it mimicked and extrapolated the patterns of growth I had noticed in the fungal photo.  I had even just happened, by whim, to have edited the photo so that its colours matched the ones I had, by chance, used in the fractal creation.

What you see below is a digital collage of the natural and the generated fractal patterns, printed on metal.  Once again nature shows how it is a manifestation of the fractal patterns of the universe.

Following the Patterns. Digital Fractal Art printed on metal, single edition. 16x16". Lianne Todd. $225.00.

Following the Patterns. Digital Fractal Art printed on metal, single edition. 16×16″. Artist Lianne Todd.  SOLD.  Private Collection.