It’s that time of year again! I will be participating once again in our annual studio tour this weekend. Details are available at http://www.welcomebacktootterville.ca, or you can rely on what I’ve posted here and pick up a postcard when you arrive at my gallery. The postcards look like this and have a map and list […]
Welcome Back 2022 — LIANNE TODD
The above is from my other website and blog, inviting all interested parties to join us this weekend for our annual studio tour.
One researcher takes this finding into account when developing retinal implants that restore vision
— Read on www.smithsonianmag.com/innovation/fractal-patterns-nature-and-art-are-aesthetically-pleasing-and-stress-reducing-180962738/
Every once in a while I discover and develop an image that is just uncannily familiar. From the similarity of “Pollinator” to an actual pollinator, to the “Ocean Floor” that isn’t actually an ocean floor, we see how nature follows the patterns dictated by the geometry we know as fractals. However, it is not strictly ‘natural’ things which follow fractal patterns. We can see fractal patterns in things like architecture, art, music, and… fancy china dishes!
I absolutely love this image which I’ve entitled ‘Time for Tea”. To me it seems vaguely reminiscent of Alice in Wonderland and the interior of my Mom’s china cabinet. I recently printed it on metal. Here is what the digital image I created looks like. In the metal print, the white parts are silver, so it does change the look of it a little. It would be perfect in a super modern dining room, I think.
To see the 24×32″ metal print, you’ll have to come out to my gallery, as it is just very difficult to photograph the reflective surface. Lucky for you, the perfect opportunity to do that is right around the corner, during the Oxford Studio Tour, May 4 & 5, 10 a.m. to 5 p.m.!
Time for Tea. Digital Fractal Art. Single metal print is 24×32″. Artist Lianne Todd.
I’ve done a post about this on my other blog – so I will just link you to that here!
But I know a picture is worth a thousand words, so here are my entries in the Westland Gallery’s Square Foot Show of 2018:
Frog Pond. Digital Fractal Art HD printed on metal. Single Print. 12×12″. $300.00. Artist Lianne Todd.
I hope you enjoy the above fractal piece. It is printed in high definition on metal, with a very glossy finish. I hadn’t tried this kind of print before and I am quite pleased with how it turned out. It doesn’t have the metallic sheen that changes with the light, like my other metal prints do, but that suits this image really well. As usual, I only do one print per image, so all pieces are originals in every sense of the word. I had a lot of fun creating this one, seeing all the different things in it that caused me to name it “Frog Pond”. Do you see them too? Please feel free to comment on what you see – I’m curious!
Kitchen Alcove, Il Convente dei Carmine. Watercolour on Paper. 6.25×6.25″. SOLD. Private Collection. Artist Lianne Todd.
World Views. Watercolour on Gold Absorbent Ground on Canvas. 12×12″. SOLD. Private Collection. Artist Lianne Todd.
I’ll be at the Art in the Park in Woodstock with some of my other work this Saturday. More about that tomorrow!
Have you ever wondered if there is any other life out there in the universe? I think there must be. The universe we can see contains around 100 – 200 billion galaxies and it is estimated that is only ten percent of what it actually contains. That’s just galaxies – each galaxy contains perhaps 100 billion stars. I don’t know about you but I have a hard time wrapping my brain around numbers that large. The odds against this being the only planet to support life of some kind are huge. So, then one wonders, what would alien life look like? We’ve seen so many science fiction movies, now, where others have imagined it, and they’ve done a really convincing job. It’s amazing, really, what our minds can come up with.
But what if we leave it all to the mathematics? If fractal geometry is the geometry of nature, let’s assume that all nature, not just that of planet Earth, is governed by it. I find it really fun to create a little ‘planet’ using Mandelbulb 3D, and then explore it, finding scenes that remind me of Earth. I’ve done this before with ‘Climb it, Change’, ‘There is Always a Bridge’, ‘No Port in Sight’, ‘Ocean Floor’, and many more that I haven’t shown anyone yet. This one I call ‘Coniferous Tree on Planet B’. Obviously the ‘coniferous tree’ isn’t the only bit of vegetation on this particular ‘planet’. I see vines, and cabbage-shaped types of vegetation, and driftwood – but you might have to come see the piece in person to appreciate all that. Next weekend is the 11th annual Oxford Studio Tour and I am at Location #4. Why not come out and see it for yourself?
Coniferous Tree on Planet B. Digital fractal art printed on metal, single print. 24×32″. Artist Lianne Todd. $550.00
This is the first piece of fractal art I’ve created and shown that isn’t square, but rather a landscape format. I hope that doesn’t throw anyone off!
I cannot wait to show you this latest piece in person. Some images conjure up abundance, richness, and decadence, and this is one of those images. There is plenty here for your own imagination to work on, but you won’t be able to properly see it unless you come to my studio! Lucky for you, my studio is often open, all you need to do is contact me. But even luckier, there are a whole bunch of studios open on May 5 & 6 in Oxford County, and mine is one of them! I am at Location #4.
This image you see here is a mere fraction of the size I have printed it – 24 x 24 inches. As usual, I only have one print made of each fractal piece, on metal (or sometimes acrylic), so each is an original. Although, I think this would make a great metal album cover don’t you?
Feast. Digital Fractal Art printed on metal, single edition print. 24×24″. Artist Lianne Todd. $450.00
There exists a very old phrase, ‘as above, so below’. Its meaning is interpreted in various ways, depending on where you look. Its source is generally attributed to Hermes, though according to some, it is probably even older than that.
According to Wikipedia, the full quote translated from Hermes ‘ The Emerald Tablet of Hermes Trismegistus, as translated by Dennis W. Hauck, is “That which is Below corresponds to that which is Above, and that which is Above corresponds to that which is Below, to accomplish the miracle of the One Thing.”
Isaac Newton translated the Emerald Tablet’s passage as follows: ‘That which is below is like that which is above & that which is above is like that which is below to do the miracles of one only thing’ (according to Quora).
I don’t know exactly where I first heard the phrase, but it certainly popped into my head a lot as I began to explore fractal geometry. The more I learn about fractals and about the cosmos, the more I see similarities between large scales, like the universe, and small scales, like an atom. Perhaps an easier example to envision is the similarity between say, a river drainage pattern and the venation in a leaf. After all, fractals are often self-similar on smaller and smaller scales. It is one of the ways in which fractal geometry was discovered by Benoit Mandelbrot. My cursory understanding of such things, as an artist whose education was mainly in biology, does not diminish my enthusiasm for humanity’s search to find a Theory of Everything. Whenever I see a Physics article in my various news feeds, I am struck by either their use of illustrative images which I recognize from experience as being generated fractals, or how much the actual images generated by their physics experiments resemble generated fractals. Maybe someday the ideas will all fit together. Until then, I will continue to happily make my art and notice how in reality, sometimes it is tricky to know what the scale of an image is.
This piece will be on display in my gallery this weekend during ‘Welcome Back to Otterville’, our town’s 21st annual studio tour. Please visit www.WelcomeBackToOtterville.ca for details of the tour, including maps and times.
A Matter of Scale. Digital Fractal Art, printed on metal. 20×20″. Single edition print. Artist Lianne Todd. $345.00
Hey everyone, the 10th Annual Oxford Studio Tour is this weekend, May 6 & 7! That’s just in case I haven’t reached you yet… I have been so busy promoting the tour on its website, and on Facebook and Twitter, I almost forgot to post on my own blogs!
As you may know, my gallery/studio is Location #3 this year. There is another near me, Location #4, and we are always happy when studio tourists make the trip out to the southeast corner of Oxford County, Ontario, to see us. Here is a peek at what you’ll find when you get here.
The entrance to my gallery is at the rear of the house:
I’m still saving the new art for when you get here! 😉
Have you seen our posters or picked up a brochure yet? They are in libraries, tourist offices, and many nice businesses in and surrounding the county. You could also get one from the first artist you visit. This is what they look like:
But here is the basic information to get you started, and our website is full of maps as well:
It has been a while since I’ve blogged about any new pieces here… I was focusing on my traditional watercolours for the winter, although I did have a piece or two I hadn’t introduced.
For instance, there is this one which I called ‘Swiftly Tilting’. I had just read the whole Madeleine L’Engle series for the first time, so this image conjured up that title – you can imagine why! This is another one of my hand-painted pieces of fractal art – a watercolour on Aquabord. (Image here is watermarked). It is in a handmade black shadow-box frame (not shown).
Swiftly Tilting. Watercolour on Aquabord. 6×6″. Lianne Todd. $175.00
I’ve created THREE new pieces that will be ready for visitors to see on the Oxford Studio Tour! It’s May 6 & 7 this year, and it is our 10th year for the tour! I am Stop #3 this time. I will be keeping the new pieces, (2 metal prints, 1 acrylic print) under wraps until the tour, because sometimes it is just better if people have the chance to see the art in person first.
Earlier this year, I was the one updating our website with all of this year’s locations, artist blurbs, sample art images, and maps. It’s going to be a great tour, and there are even more reasons to come to Oxford County what with part of Big Cheese Days happening the Saturday of that weekend too! Gunns Hill is right on the way down to Otterville from the 401 and their cheese is delicious!
It has been a very busy year of creating and exhibiting so far, and I hope that continues. I look forward to the tour, and to a more active year of blogging about my art too!
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. 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.
FractaLiArt 