Diane Clancy's Art Blog

Here is an alternative entry for the zoo. This is one of a series of images I created using vector clip art that I purchased the usage of. I am very taken with this kind of animal image that has an African feel. If you like, I will tell you more about this tomorrow.

Animals I, Digital © Diane Clancy

Today I have spent the day burning DVDs to backup clients’ work from the last few years. It meant I couldn’t use my computer for anything else. One time I tried and the DVD tanked (was defective). It could have been a coincidence, but I didn’t want to take the chance again.

So I had no access to the computer until now. The rest of the time Susan and I read her screenplay out loud – and that took several hours. I am eager to finish the backing up because then I can delete a bunch of files and I hope that will speed things up some … they have been crawling lately and that makes it a lot less fun!! I will catch up with you tomorrow … and I would love to hear about you!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: vector, clip art, African, screenplay

I am having so much fun making and looking at these ACEOs that I am making. Art Cards Editions and Originals are a 2.5 x 3.5 ” piece of art. Artists originally developed then as ATCs (Art Trading Cards) to share with each other. Then someone realized that is it a way for anyone to be able to own a piece of work by an artist – and collect them – in an affordable way.

Morning of Peace, Digital © Diane Clancy

For years I have bought greeting cards by various artists and have saved them – to be able to look at and admire them …. and be inspired. I don’t know many other people who do that – but I love to look at art – in a manageable way. So, I am pretty psyched to have discovered this new (to me) genre.

At first I was hesitant, but tried them anyway … and now I am hooked! Other artists at Etsy were very generous with helping know how they made their ACEOs. So that helped me decide exactly how I want mine to look. I put the painting (or print) in an archival sleeve and then put that into a hard sleeve to protect them.

I have been making them for the fair this weekend (by the way we are now ready) and I want one of each. It is fun to be enjoying them so much!! And I have gotten excellent feedback from the people who have gotten them.

Any of my images on this blog or my site I am glad to make into an ACEO edition (print) for $6 plus shipping and handling. (Shipping and handling is $.50 for the US, $1 for Canada and Australia and $1.50 for other places.) If you want 3, you can get them for $15 plus shipping and handling. I can accept PayPal.

If you want to check them out in my Etsy Shop, please do. There are also lots and lots of fantastic artists who sell there. Thank you for indulging my sharing this new passion!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: ACEO, ATC, Etsy, PayPal

Sue O’Kieffe on he Sacred Circle Mandalas wrote a post about creating every day in November with a link to another blog. Each November there is an encouragement to Create Every Day. It must be a companion to November being Writers’ Month where writers write every day. Leah Piken of Blue Tree Art Gallery has a blog where you can register to join in. I would think many of you would like to join in!! It can be any medium at all – what you usually do or a new one. I look forward to what you create!

Poetic Mountain at Night, Digital © Diane Clancy

This is the Scales image at a different time of day – or should I say night. And it seems to me that instead Scales that other painting has a “real name” of Poetic Mountain. Unless you have other suggestions … but I think it fits.

I am pretty excited that you are enjoying the bubbles so much! I love creating them! And having an audience for something like this enhances the process so much!! I would love to hear more about you.

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Sue O’Kieffe, Sacred Circle Mandalas, Create Every Day, Writers’ Month, Leah Piken, Blue Tree Art Gallery

Thank you for all your help and feedback. I am thinking about what to do .. as I absorb your feedback. I am so grateful for your taking time to talk with me about your opinions. More tomorrow.

So Many Choices, Digital © Diane Clancy

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: feedback

Thank you for all your thoughtful responses yesterday!! I have new things to try out now! I need to play catch-up today – including on your blogs!  I just made an addition to this post … I have put a version with my signature, so you can see the difference.  I am interested in your input now.

Purple Maze, Digital © Diane Clancy

Some days are like a maze

Others like a straight-line sprint

Some weeks are like a maze

Hopefully we get to the center of the maze

The center – of ourselves and of the maze

Clarifies everything

Purple Maze with signature, Digital © Diane Clancy

~ Diane Clancy

Some of you have bought work of mine and others have said you plan to. So, as my customers, I have a question for you. Last night I brought some of my cups tiles, postcards and more from my CafePress Shop to my art business class. They loved the merchandise and thought it looked great! But they has one problem with it – my name is not on the mugs and all at all.

All Directions at Once, Digital © Diane Clancy

When I ship from my Etsy Shop, I send a business card and they know it is from me. I can also sign the print or card if they would like me to.

I explained to the class that with the merchandise from CafePress there was no way to put my name with the products. They get shipped directly to the customer. They then wanted me to put my name on the image itself that I upload for CafePress to print from.

That is the only way to have my name associated with the image. I want to know what you think. I am of mixed minds. In one way I can understand their concerns – sure it would be great for people to know the work was mine
and come looking for more!

But in another way, I am concerned with anything that could take away from the painting itself. I am not sure my name as it would be on a picture in a way that didn’t take away from the painting would be clear enough to come looking for me and then find me.

So, I just don’t know! I am turning to you to ask your opinion. Which way would you prefer? I hope you will really take the time and be truthful. Thank you in advance for all your help!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: customers, merchandise, CafePress, Etsy Shop, signing work

I am very moved by the outpouring of kindness and understanding that you have given me in your comments! You have touched me in a deep place in my soul with your connecting to me … and letting me know about it! This is an added bonus I did not expect when I started blogging!

Happy Dog, ACEO © Diane Clancy

I promised I would give you the link to the World Card Making Day (WCMD)- which was yesterday, October 6, 2007. If I had known earlier, I would have shared this so all of you could have the chance to play too. It is a little like Rima’s challenges … different blogs set up a kind of card to make and then details were posted during different times of the day and then people went to town creating cards!

ACEO (Art Card Editions and Originals) and ATC ( Art Trading Cards) are 2.5 x 3.5″ cards (made of many different materials) that people trade and collect. They are the same size as a baseball card (at least baseball cards in the US – I don’t know about other countries) and people often keep them in plastic sleeves that people use for baseball cards.

I have had a request to make some of these ACEOs and so I saw an opportunity that would force me to push myself fast and furious without worrying about quality .. sort of like it was for me when I took art classes. I produced tons of work because there was a deadline without the pressure of having to be perfect … I am sure many of you understand what I mean.

If you want to see the ACEOs I made yesterday they are posted at my other blogs here and here. I posted until 2 am my time last night so there may be some you didn’t catch. There are no duplicate ACEO images between the 2 blogs. And I hadn’t posted on either since I posted about the Blog Action Day – so that is when you will know you have seen all the ACEOs.

For me it was a great chance to get the brush going again without worrying about meaning or what it looked like. I need to do my environmental challenge so hopefully the brush got loosened up so now there is just the brain (or heart and soul) that need loosening.

The other thing I wanted to share is about this painting. I just was putting paint down and I thought it looked terrible – so I almost threw it aside. But I am very conscious of the earth and thriftiness. So I put a little more on it. Then I wiped a brush on it. Then put a bunch of marks in the back. Then, magically, at one moment, it showed itself as a dog. A pretty cool dog too I think. So I went back and reworked it a bunch more times … I thought you would be interested to know about its history. I think it is one of the strongest images from yesterday .. and it almost got thrown out!

I want you to remember that persevering is important. Things may not go quite right at the moment, in life and in painting, but keep stick with your process. You helped me persevere yesterday with painting and painting when it all looked like total junk to me .. then it gelled. So I want to pass this along to you!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: kindness, blogging, WCMD, ACEO, ATC, art classes

One thing that has been great for me in blogging is getting back into creating paintings again. I had gone on quite a digital image binge a couple of years ago and then slowed way down (except for animal pictures). I have not done that much new painting with traditional materials except for working on a couple of series that I knew I wanted to work out to four in each series. And I have spent a lot of time marketing and doing graphic design and web design for clients.

Above the Race Track, Digital © Diane Clancy

Coming here and having you want a new painting every day, I worried if I would have enough. I am sure I had enough for maybe a year (or 2 depending on what I use), but I am very conservative in a certain way (not politically), and I didn’t want to use up all my paintings.

So I started creating new digital ones to hopefully delight you. And it has been great – because you have helped me go past what I was doing before in working with Studio Artist. In Photoshop I am probably working very much similarly. But your comments have pushed me past where I was working with SA. To a bunch more steps and taking images and working and reworking and reworking again.

Then – about the names – you pushed me to get more creative when I was going on and on with the Beyonds – since I was working with the same base image. That was how I was naming before – using one name for all 4 or so images I would make from one source image.

Right now I have over 300 images in a folder from one painting. Almost all the images I have created the last couple of months have been from the one base painting. So, obviously, Beyond 301 doesn’t cut it.

The Confession – for my Blog Action Day painting, I want to use traditional mediums – which means physical paints, physical collages, physical pastels, etc. Now … here is the confession really – I am scared! I feel I can never do anything worthwhile and that it just won’t look that good … and I can’t do it. I am nervous to so this!

The Appreciation – I want to thank you all for helping me develop into another stage in digital painting and also naming of paintings. Having to come up with a new name every day has made it much easier to be creative in names.

Thank you for sharing my process and please feel free to share yours!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: marketing, graphic design, Studio Artist, Photoshop, Blog Action Day, traditional mediums, creative process, digital painting

Here is one of my special images on merchandise in my CafePress Shop (www.cafepress.com/dianeclancy)  Susan took photos today that will hopefully be good enough to make into more “Fanciful Animal Images.”  Thank you for your comments about the forms and email from yesterday’s posts.  Famous last words of getting the other section done – almost nada.

Freckles in Flowers II, Digital © Diane Clancy

This little baby was my companion for 18 wonderful years!! One of my best friends ever!!  But, on the bright side, I commented on many posts today from around the web, and read lots more than I commented on! So I hope I got them all caught up!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Fanciful Animal Images, CafePress

This painting is also a tip of the hat to Harry Potter. It took me about 10 tries before I got the “eye” how I wanted it. It is amazing to me how the name of an image can change the whole way I look at it.

Behind the Mirror, Digital © Diane Clancy

Answering some comments from previous posts … Sue O’Kieffe, to answer your question, I am looking at the blog (and particularly the paintings) on my CRT monitor, and I see a bit of a color difference, but not much at all. With all my files they are a little different on the large monitor upstairs versus my laptop. Mac vs PC can come into it too.

I am ready to print “In the Cathedral” but waiting for Susan to come home to put her image into the file too to save paper … but it looks good on the screen and usually it prints pretty closely … except the purples are usually too reddish when printed from Photoshop files … so I may need to work on that … We shall see!

Sue, it is neat the way we work so similarly!! I enjoy working and painting when I feel that I am at least as much as vehicle as a creator. For me it is so much more fun!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Sue O’Kieffe, color difference, printing

Update – the purple printed redder than I see on the screen.  I think I should have chosen all the purple and shifted that color somehow to a more bluer purple.  But this is the consistent off-printing that happens.  It is pretty close but not exact.  And I tried to adjust the saturation on certain colors, but I couldn’t get it how I wanted … so I printed to see what happened – but it looks great!