Diane Clancy's Art Blog

This vibrant, colorful painting of Golden Inner Glow seems to come from and speak directly to the Soul.  The richness of the golds and purples feels very spiritual to me …  like a window into the soul.  I also see a goddess who can guide us and help us stay in touch with our highest purpose.  What do you see, feel, experience with this painting?  Thank you for stopping by!!

Golden Inner Glow, Digital  © Diane Clancy

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Soul Painting, Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, Golden Inner Glow, goddess

Some of you know I have coordinated the local artists’ group, Artists of Franklin County, for 4 years.  I have been cheer leader, chair, coordinator, minutes taker of the group and coordinator of our AWE Project (Artists Window Exhibit).  The last meeting we had a great discussion about it being time to share the responsibility – at last there is a stable core group that is able and willing to step up and make the group run by ALL of us.

We had been taking turns making presentations of our work as artists and whatever we wanted.  One person in particular had never done this – ME.  Most other people had already.  Everyone in the group decided it was my turn to present.  Someone else is chairing the meeting and taking minutes.  Seemed reasonable to me.

But with the illness and death of my cousin … this totally dropped out of my mind.  The wonderful person who has volunteered to chair reminded me of the presentation.  I would just as soon postpone it .. but the meeting is built around it … so I think I should do it … but I sure am looking for suggestions!  Thanks!

This vibrant, colorful painting of Ocean Dreams is now on a mug in my CafePress Shop.   Here is the link for this lovely mug.  I think it is pretty cool – I hope you like it!  You can also get this at my Etsy Shop as a framed print or an Art Card, ACEO for $6.  Ocean Dreams is also available in many different sizes.  Just ask!

Ocean Dreams Mug © Diane Clancy

Any ideas are appreciated!!  Thanks so much!!  Thank you for stopping by!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, mug, bubblescape, CafePress, Art Cards – ACEOs, Etsy, Artists of Franklin County, AWE Project, presentation

Amanda Makepeace featured me on One Pebble: An Art Exchange today.  Amanda LOVES pebbles and she has a great offer of gifting someone an original Art Card, ACEO each time someone sends her a pebble.  WOW – that is some trade.  Awhile ago I walked around the block and picked up a variety of pebbles of different colors, textures and sizes to thrill Amanda … she gets such a kick out of them!  She wrote a great post right here about my pebbles (and the ACEO I gave her)!!  You can see one of my vibrant, colorful paintings in the image below and much more clearly in Amanda’s post!  Thank you, Amanda!

I LOVE the name of her post – Beauty in Diversity!!  Please go over and check out her blog about this pebble exchange!  Also I want to show you some of the ACEOs that she has traded for pebbles … right here … and from there, you can go check The Artist and other parts of this site.  She also have a link to her regular website.  Amanda is a very creative artist and very active in online activities.  Plus she is kind and generous – a great combo!

How do you name paintings?  Or anything else that you make?  I like to give a name because I feel it enhances the painting and also gives a way for the viewer to look at the work – when they would like that way into the artists’ mind.  So I name all my vibrant, colorful paintings … but I sometimes run into problems.  How unusual!  (smiling) This is one of the ACEO paintings I made for the WWAO Swap … and I named them all – of course – I always do!

Green Dusk, Pastel © Diane Clancy

But tonight when I went to write a post, I ran into a road block.  This was the pastel I chose to share with you … so I went to my image folder to make sure you hadn’t seen it before … and there was already another Green Dusk .. a digital one!  Well, it is too late to change the name of either … so one is a Green Dusk pastel and another a Green Dusk digital.  I prefer that doesn’t happen, but obviously I am far from perfect. At least I feel there is a similar feel in one way to them both – so it shows some internal logic in my names.

Green Dusk, Digital © Diane Clancy

How do you keep track of all this?  Do you name your paintings?  Do you ever use a name more than once?  Do you care?  Be great to hear from you on this topic!

I have been extremely busy with the AWE Project today.  If I had more time, I would give you links to WWAO and also describe the AWE Project again .. but off to 2 more things before I get to bed tonight … so I will see you tomorrw!!  Love to hear about you!! Thank you for stopping by!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, pastel, ACEO, AWE, WWAO

This is one of the vibrant, colorful pastel ACEOs that I created a couple of weeks ago.  I thought you would enjoy seeing it.  I really enjoyed making these Art Cards, ACEOs with traditional mediums .. in this case pastel.  I have been wearing rubber gloves the last couple of years when I have been creating with pastels.  I don’t know if that is silly or smart.  I tend to do a lot of blending of colors to lay down a carpet of color to then draw the image  into.  I sketched a little with pencil so I could work the fields of color into rough shapes.  I love smearing the colors around to get the effects I like.  I don’t think most artists use pastel this way .. but I enjoy it and some people like the effect.

Glowing Reds, Pastel © Diane Clancy

Each birthday and Christmas I give two of my nieces cards of my artwork.  Part of the present is they get to look through my website and blog to choose whichever painting they choose.  It is a fun way to have a focus together.  The last year or two I have also given them each an Art Card, ACEO of the same chosen image.  They have had great fun getting them. And I LOVE getting back thank you notes on these cards!

As a second ACEO, this year I gave my niece Sarah a print of one of the pastel ACEOs I recently created.  Here is what she said in  her thank note : “Thank you very much for the cards and the two trading cards. I absolutely love them! I really like the extra trading card and how you can see the pencil strokes and the texture (I pulled it out of its sleeve to touch it – just to see – it’s amazing and really pretty!)” This is part of what you would get if you purchase one of these.

I think I will put some prints of these pastels in my Etsy Shop.  I am working on some originals also so that I can list them in one or more of my online shops.  Let me know if you would like one … you can also buy one here.   Thank you for stopping by!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, pastel, ACEO

How about this vibrant, colorful painting ..  what does this say to you?  There are fantastic comments from yesterday’s painting ..  I haven’t been able decide the name for yesterday’s painting yet … but I would LOVE to hear what you say about this one!  Today I was also very busy and not able to write very much today … but I will sometime soon.  Thank you for sharing your thoughts with me!!

How About This One?, Digital © Diane Clancy

Thank you for stopping by!  I would love to hear about you!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting

I am thrilled to report that I have been working in the studio … using real, non-digital, art materials.  This is one of the results.  I have created 15 ACEOs that I like … and by the end of doing them, I was getting back in the groove again of how I use pastels.  I have never tried to draw so small before – not in any serious way.  Some of you know I have been trying to get back in there (the studio) to create with traditional mediums … so this is quite a success for me!

Sunrise Bouquet, Pastel © Diane Clancy

On the last several ACEOs, I was tackling them as if I actually knew what I was doing .. it  was a great feeling!  I love working digitally and it has been wonderful for me to be able to … especially when I often didn’t feel well enough to be in the real physical studio.  But it was also miraculous for me to be able go into the studio … where there is no UNDO button … and start to feel good about creating this tiny little cards (2 1/5″ x 3 1/2″) …. it started to be a whole lot of fun!  Even though it is cold in the studio – the temperature is 63 degrees.

I hope you like this vibrant,  colorful painting! I know I do … I use pastels in a way unlike most people … but I use them the way that feels right to me … Delighted to be sharing this with you!  Thank you … I would love to hear about your own process in creating.

Susan Elkin and I have been working quite hard on her business and she has made incredible progress.   By the way, Susan has posted today!!  Thank you for stopping by!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, pastel, creating

Mark Forster has a new method of time management, using the concepts of “Thought – Decision – Action” or “Stimulus – Response.” These are wonderful, new, useful concepts.

I read about a really cool site Get Everything Done (http://www.markforster.net/) so I went and checked it out. Mark Forster has 3 books (at least) and numerous articles about various ways to tackle life so that we may be the person we really want to be. Time management and organization can be the foundation for what we want to do with our lives.  Yesterday I read the first chapter of a book that was a big WOW for me … keeping reading to find the change in vision that chapter gave me.

Dreamscape III, Digital © Diane Clancy

I used to be very effective at getting enormous amounts of things done … often feeling pretty relaxed.  But circumstances have changed and many readers of this blog knew I have been in an overwhelm mode for way too long.  This first chapter (never mind the whole book) has given me a life-line to get back my serene, creative, joyful self!

The key – we each have two parts of ourselves … part of our brain uses “Thought – Decision – Action” and another part of our brain that acts from “Stimulus – Response.” I have been on automatic coming from Stimulus – Response.  Working with these two principles is his new system of time management. You can read the first chapter for free right here.

It has been very helpful to me today.  I can see the places I am still being reactive to stimulus around me.  And I was also able to stay focused a chunk of the day.  I have been tangling with taxes and other financial details that I need to do.  I guess I am tired enough still that it is being difficult, but I did stay focused and got a lot done anyway.

I think I can go quite a distance playing with these ideas to help me get back on track. Mark has this fantastic list of tasks and he asks us to decide whether they are “Thought – Decision – Action” or “Stimulus – Response.”  I was surprised by some of the answered but it sure helped me GET the idea!! He has lots of resources on his website – definitely worth checking out!

What do you think? How do you manage your time?  Are you on track?  What needs to change for you?  Thank you so much for coming by!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Dreamscape, Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, Get Everything Done, Mark Forster, time management

Ok … I promised that today I would assess how I did on my goals for 2008.  You can see my goals on Goals for 2008.  On the day before that day, you can see my assessment what I did in 2007. Below I look at some of my goals and give my assessment of how I did. I may change some of how I am using this blog, but I definitely want to finish up talking about goals as I said I would.

Sphere Dance, Digital © Diane Clancy

Continue my work with the Creative Economy

• I stayed on the board of Fostering the Arts and feel like I am being effective at being a bridge between artists and those who are organizing around the creative economy – I get good feedback about my participation.
• Artists of Franklin County – I have chaired and taken minutes as I committed to.  The group has really gelled this year and more people are taking true ownership of the group.  The group is finding itself and now can decide what to do … it is at a different stage of evolution.
• We did the AWE Project (Artists Window Exhibit) three times last year.  For the Holiday AWE we even did an Art Fair and Art Stroll also. I received a grant which helped me carve out the time to do this.
• I would say my work with the Creative Economy was a success this year and I fulfilled and surpassed my goals.
• A hint toward my goals for this year – this work has taken up way too much of my time … let me rephrase that … I have allowed this organizing work to be done in an excellent way – somewhat at the cost of my creative time.

Build my Online Sales

• I have expanded my Etsy and CafePress Shops with items and images. That part has been fairly successful.  I still need to keep expanding at CafePress with my bubblescapes and putting my vibrant, colorful paintings on more merchandise.
• I have opened shops at lots of other online stores … I feel really good about that!  I think that has been very successful. Now I need to add more items to these various shops.
• I have made some sales this last year for sure – obviously I want to increase them.

Networking

• Networking – I have networked a really lot!! I am a leader in several artists teams and have become active in social media. Again – this is taking a lot of time and I need to reassess how much time it does take. There is so much opportunity out there!! I certainly have been effective at getting connected in 2008!!!

Licensing

• I did license Conundrum I to be used on a book cover this year.  I listened to a phone class to help artists know about licensing.
• On seriously pursuing licensing, I did a very poor job.

Graphic Design & Web Design Clients

• I had several and we did some good work.  I enjoy this work (the way I do it working closely with clients) and it brings in a stream of income. So this was successful.

Rework My Website

• I have reworked the front page a little to add a link to CafePress (with an image of one of my mugs) and a link to purchase an ACEO.
• I did not add the bubblescape galleries as I had planned … and I have someone asking where they can see them all together – so obviously I need to make some decisions about this.

Pursue Design Work for Hire

• I tried one or two potential opportunities – and I am not at all sure that is worth pursuing right now.

Develop Resources for Artists

• We set up the Artists Marketing Forum. I spent a lot of time writing and getting articles ready for that.  Initially it generated a lot of interest, but it was not sustained. I had been hoping to perhaps get some coaching work from that. I have chosen not pursue it more for awhile .. but perhaps I can use some of the writing in a useful way.

Create Lots of Art

• I have created lots of vibrant, colorful digital paintings.  Several have sold in my Etsy shop.  People have expressed a lot of delight in them – so that has been highly successful.
• Getting back into the studio to work with traditional mediums has been less so … obviously part of my goals for 2009.

Health, Harmony & Well-Being

• In certain ways this year has been wildly successful – and that is probably the most important thing.  I have made some very important changes.
• In other ways, I still have lots of room for improvement – but then again, who doesn’t?

How about you?  Have you been assessing how your last year went?  I would love to hear about it. Did you fill your goals?  Did you do things important to you that were not on your list of goals?  I would love to hear how others are thinking about this for themselves and for their work and passions. Love and blessings to all life! Thanks for coming by!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: goals, Creative Economy, Fostering the Arts, Artists of Franklin County, AWE Project, grant, Online Sales, Etsy, CafePress, social media, licensing

Technorati Tags: organizing, Creativity Every Day, Illustration Friday, foreground, background, focus, digital painting