Todd A. Blanchard was born in Lafayette, Louisiana in 1968. He discovered art at a young age and enjoyed drawing throughout his youth. He studied art and architecture as well as computer science at the University of Southwestern Louisiana (now the University of Louisiana at Lafayette). After graduating from college in 1991, Todd moved to Knoxville, Tennessee to begin a career as a professional in Information Technology.

From 1991 to 1995, Todd produced abstract and landscape art using acrylics. He took an eight-year break from painting to focus on his technical career. In 2003, he realized it was time to return to painting. Dissatisfied with acrylics, he switched to oils and discovered that they are much more flexible and in line with his painting style. Since returning to painting, he has focused on producing representational art, mainly landscapes of scenic East Tennessee as well as his native Louisiana. Todd is inspired by the places he visits and the forms, colors, and designs found in nature.

Aside from the handful of drawing and painting classes taken in his youth, Todd is mostly self-taught. He constantly reads about and studies the masters, as well as contemporary artists. He is greatly inspired by the French Impressionists of the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries as well as contemporary landscape artists. He has come to understand that painting education is a never-ending process.

Through all of his artist efforts, Todd is supported by his wife Beth and son Derrick. Their encouragement allows him to freely focus on his artwork. They are his greatest critics and his best supporters and he is thankful to have them in his life.

Todd is a member of the Knoxville Arts & Culture Alliance in Knoxville, Tennessee.

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