Tag Archives: Watercolors

Oxford Studio Tour 2023 This Weekend

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It is possible you don’t know this weekend, May 6 & 7 2023, is the Oxford Studio Tour in Oxford County, Ontario. I know it has been a while since I have written a blog post on this site, and I do apologize for that!

I have some new work to show, and am joined by 32 other artists at 14 other locations on the Tour. There is so much beautiful art for you to see! If you want more details about where to go, please visit our website at www.oxfordstudiotour.ca. We have a list of studios and artists by location there, as well as individual maps and maps of the whole tour. Perhaps you will have picked up a brochure at one of the many places we have been fortunate to be allowed to place them. If not, each artist’s location will have some on hand to give you.

Here in Otterville, (I am Location 1 this year, and Sue Goossens is Location 2), there will also be another event on the Saturday. A High Tea at the Woodlawn Adult Community Centre, to celebrate the coronation of King Charles III, is happening on May 6, 2023 from 12 noon to 3 p.m., where they will be serving up scones, clotted cream, jam, small sandwiches, sweet treats and tea. Cost is $20 per person. Fascinators welcome but not required.

I look forward to meeting you, either again or for the first time, in my gallery at the back of my house. I have a wide variety of watercolours and digital fractal art available. Look for red signs as you get to Otterville!

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Welcome Back This Weekend

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Dear Readers, it’s been a while, but I am back! This weekend we are having our Welcome Back to Otterville studio tour. More information on that at my other blog site. (Click the link).

In addition to this, I have a few pieces at the Tillsonburg Station Arts Centre as part of the Oxford Studio Preview Exhibit until December 3rd.

Also, I am taking part in the Oxford Creates online show from now until December 31st!

It feels good to be involved in art shows again and I am hopeful the inspiration and the more open doors will continue.

New Artisan Boutique in Clinton, Ontario

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Last week I made the drive to Clinton, Ontario to drop off some of my art, and work a shift at a new store there called ‘Mama & Me, the Canadian Artisan Gift Boutique’.  The business owner, Crystal, was the Grand Prize Winner of Central Huron’s Win This Space Contest, and has worked very hard to transform her vision into a reality.  As she put it, only 16 gallons of paint and 400+ hours of labour later… her shop was ready to open!  It’s full of handmade items displayed in unique ways mostly on re-purposed furniture, which gives it a nice, welcoming, homey feel.  The address is 17 Victoria St., Clinton, ON, and it’s not far from Bayfield, Goderich, and Blyth.  Open from 11 am-5 pm Tuesday to Friday, 10 am to 5? pm Saturday (not sure) and closed Sundays and Mondays.

Mama & Me storefront

Inside the shop Mama & MeThe Mama & Me boutiqueI took two fractal watercolour paintings, two fractal metal prints, two watercolour paintings from my ‘Cats of Italy’ series, and another large watercolour painting of lotus blossoms to be hung in the store.  I didn’t get to hang them while there, but we decided where they were going and she has promised to send photos when they’re up!  Here are most of them, waiting patiently in the area reserved for workshops:

Lianne Todd's artwork at Mama & MeIf you go, and make a purchase, you could win this retro-style bicycle!  I had a good look, it is quite nice.

Prize bicycle!

 

Art in the Park Woodstock

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This Saturday I will be one of the artists displaying their work at Art in the Park in Woodstock, Ontario.  It is scheduled to start at 2 pm, and goes until 9 pm, at Victoria Park, 413 Buller Street
Woodstock , ON
Canada.

More information is available here and here.

I participated in this event last year, which took place at the beginning of September, and really enjoyed all the music that played during the afternoon and evening.  It was a lovely, relaxing event, great setting, and many talented artists were present with their work.   I wish I had taken some photos to share with you!

I will have a selection of fractal pieces and watercolours in my booth.

I know we need rain –  the photo below shows what our falls in Otterville look like right now – but I kind of hope it either rains the night before or after we leave the park!

 

 

 

New Eyes

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Thank you to all who came out on the weekend for the 11th Annual Oxford Studio Tour, and welcome new subscribers!  I just wrote a post for my other blog, which is on my watercolour site, and I wanted to make sure it reached all my followers for both sites.  So, if you’ve already seen it, please go on about your day.  If not, here it is:  New Eyes!

 

Studio Tour coming up!

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I posted at length about our ‘Welcome Back to Otterville’ studio tour yesterday on my watercolours blog, and I wanted to make sure everyone who subscribes to this one knows about it too.  There is a press release contained within that blog post, if any local journalists would care to deliver our story to their reading public.

This is our 21st annual tour (the 12th one I have lived here for), and every year it is slightly different.  The tour was founded by my good friend Sue Goossens, pictured here with me.  As you can see, she is also a very talented watercolour artist.  Our website is www.welcomebacktootterville.ca, if you’d like to see who else is on the tour.  If you are unfamiliar with my art, you may also see a good sampling of it here, and here.

I hope to see you here in Otterville, Ontario on November 18 & 19, from 10 to 5 pm.  It would make a great, stress-free day-trip for anyone in the area of London, Stratford, Kitchener-Waterloo, Guelph, Hamilton, Simcoe, St. Thomas, and all points in between or south to the lake.  Look for the yellow flags, and I’ll be waiting in my gallery with some hot cranberry wassail!

Sue and Lianne

There is always a bridge.

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We live in a very divided political landscape these days.  There are a great many vocal people on both the left and the right, and sometimes it is difficult to imagine we can find any common ground with each other.

I helped found, and am the publicity director for, the Canadian branch of the International Watercolor Society (IWS Canada).  Our mission is to “promote peace, harmony, love, understanding and acceptance of each others’ differences” through the medium of watercolour.   We recently held a contest in which we asked people all over the world to express ways in which they celebrate.  We asked what celebration meant to them.  Many interpreted the question as ‘what’ do you celebrate, rather than ‘how’. In a way, we were asking for participants to build a bridge for us so we could learn about their cultures.  It has meant we’ve interacted with 1450 people all over the world.  It may be a small contribution to peace, and love, but many small contributions add up!  The 150 finalists chosen by our four jurors can be seen on our website (thanks to the hard work of Ona Kingdon, Elizabeth Franchetto Irvine, and myself ;)), along with the videos in both English and French made by our president, Ona.  We recognize, of course, that all art forms “can bring people together despite differences in race, religion, culture and distance.” We just happen to especially love watercolour.

As you know, I also happen to love digital fractal art.

This piece of mine illustrates a landscape full of great divisions, but wherever there is a chasm, the fractal algorithm has built a natural bridge.

Fractal landscape, natural bridges

There is Always a Bridge. Digital Fractal Art printed on metal, single edition. 20×20″. Artist Lianne Todd. $345.00

What if we did that?  What if each of us made it our business to build a small bridge wherever we see a chasm we can’t fill (like in that song by Sting!).  Our hearts can be open without compromising our ideals. We don’t have to have “fortresses” around them.

Anyone who knows me knows I love to argue (not fight), just for argument’s sake.  So it may seem odd to them – me talking about building bridges.  But my arguments are never meant to hurt or cause strife – they are meant to bring more understanding, both for me and for the other person.  It really saddens me when that isn’t the outcome, as is sometimes the case.  There is always a bridge that can be built or found.  We can’t/won’t always cross the bridges, and can’t expect others to cross over to us either, but at least we may get a little closer to seeing the others’ point of view, and sometimes we can meet in the middle.

How I spent my summer holidays…

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It has been a long time since I posted any news here, and tomorrow I am participating in Woodstock’s ‘Pavlo in the Park’, a Canada 150 celebration, as an exhibitor, so I thought this would be a good time to do so.

It was such a busy summer I didn’t even have a chance to go to my own exhibits!  Allow me to explain:

In June, I was very lucky to be able to spend a couple of weeks in Italy, with my husband.  I took a week-long painting holiday at a place called The Watermill, which was fantastic for both of us. He was able to explore the Tuscan mountainsides hiking while I learned from watercolour painting master Keiko Tanabe and both of us had all the delicious food and drink we could want and met fabulous people.  After that we explored the Cinque Terre, Milan, and Venice on our own.

A scene in Verrucola.

A painting I completed in Italy

While I was away, my daughter helped me out by delivering a few of my watercolour paintings to our Artists of Oxford ‘Canadiana’ exhibit at The ARTS Project in London, Ontario. I arrived home just as the exhibit was closing.

Then, in July, my daughter and I went on a three week train trip across Western Canada.  She had had the good fortune to acquire a Canada150 VIA rail pass and invited me on her trip.  It’s a good thing we get along!  P.S. Canada is very beautiful.  P.P.S. It might be even more beautiful if you go by car and sleep in a bed at night ;).  P.P.P.S. I hate waiting for freight trains…

While we were away, my husband helped me out by delivering (and picking up) a couple of my fractal pieces to the Bridges Math Art conference at the University of Waterloo (our alma mater).  I was really pleased to be able to participate with my art, even though I didn’t get there myself.  Maybe next year!

When I returned home, it was time to fulfill my duties as a Co-Representative for the International Watercolor Society’s Canadian branch (IWS Canada).  We held an online competition from July 1st to August 31 to celebrate Canada’s 150th anniversary.  The three of us processed 1450 entries from over 80 countries around the world!  I am not a juror for the contest but they have a large job ahead of them!  Only 150 entries will be juried in to the final online exhibit, and eight lucky participants (3 in each adult category, 1 in each youth category) will be chosen to receive prizes.

I was also interviewed for a feature article in a new little local free newspaper.  It is in this week’s edition.  A big thank you to The London Review for supporting the arts!

So now, (after this weekend!) I am really looking forward to settling in to my studio and doing some serious watercolour painting.  I have so many reference photos to inspire me!

Awaiting the Tourists!

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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:

New work!

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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!