Diane Clancy's Art Blog

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

This year again November is Creative Every Day, Art Every Day Month. Sue O’Kieffe of Sacred Circle Mandalas reminded me through her blog newsletter that it is that time of year again. Sue makes incredible mandalas and you can follow her here.  Sue is a very gifted artist!

Art Every Day Month was started by Leah Piken Kolidas 6 years ago.  Leah blog has all the guidelines for participating. This post has all the details. As Leah says, any creativity counts – and it is great if you can create every day or whenever you can.  She encourages people to let her know that you are participating so she can list you if you like.

Here are some logos for this challenge – you can put them on your blog or website if you like. I encourage everyone to be creative in some way in Novemeber.

Art Every Day, © Leah Piken Kolidas

Art Every Day, © Leah Piken Kolidas

Cyan Carnival, Digital © Diane Clancy

I am on pins and needles – like so many others of you – waiting for the results of the election. I sure hope this country gets back on the track of self-respect and respect for all others … including the earth. We are on the verge of such a gigantic step of moving forward for all people!!  Thanks for stopping by!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Creative Every Day, Art Every Day Month, Sue O’Kieffe, Sacred Circle Mandalas, Leah Piken Kolidas, election

I have made incredible progress at organizing these past 3 days … it is such a relief. I think I deserve a vacation in an Aztec Garden. I have taken care of so so many things that had piled up … and it was pretty overwhelming.  But I tackled it like I tackle paintings … it is my creative process.  Just a little bit at a time .. telling myself all I have to do it a tiny bit … what a relief!! And then I am able to really make a lot of progress as long as I am not pushing too hard. My studio table is even clear … on Facebook several artists commented how great it was that I could see my table – since they couldn’t – that made me feel better.  But WHEW!! How good when tackling such a big thing and it starting to come together.  I find I need to have a fine balance … putting things off doesn’t work .. but neither does forcing it. When the timing is right, it flows. Thanks for stopping by!!

Aztec Garden, Digital © Diane Clancy

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: organizing, creative process, Facebook

Technorati Tags: AWE, Susan Elkin

This looks like a Goddess Mandala to me.  It looks mythical and deep with layers of meaning. It looks like a scared symbol of an earth culture. For me it is a sacred symbol – I see a goddess created from ancient, significant symbols. There is a human aspect and also a nature deva facet. And of course, the colors have profound spiritual implications. Absolutely amazing the way the unconscious speaks in art!!

Life Mandala, Digital © Diane Clancy

I have a give-away to celebrate my 500th post. You can still enter to win!! Here are the details. It is FREE to enter! Thank you for stopping by!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Goddess, Mandala, scared symbol, deva, spiritual, unconscious, give-away, FREE

I found this wonderful site that sends me messages every day … from the Universe. “Thoughts become things… choose the good ones! ®” is their slogan. The website is www.tut.com. I find their sayings often very helpful … so I figured I would share this with you. It is a free newsletter. So I share today’s thought with you …

Yellow Mist, Digital © Diane Clancy

From the Universe:

When you understand, Diane, that your disappointment in another’s behavior or choices always stems from their immaturity, or yours, rather than their unkindness, or yours, it becomes much harder not to keep skipping through life, giddy with joy, smelling the flowers.

Moreover, when you understand that with enough maturity on your end you can always find peace in all of your relationships, it becomes much harder not to run down the street kissing everyone you meet on both cheeks.

Kiss, kiss -
The Universe

Wisdom, Diane, is the real deal.

Back to Diane … I am going to share about my health … that is going to take awhile to figure out and write … so it will be soon but not today. I have a full day today with the chiropractor, a client and a meeting tonight to protect the wetlands. I have started with the taxes and am in better shape but still need to learn some information for something I have never done before. I hope your day is excellent!

A big plus … my browser has been slow as molasses (a saying that means very slow!!) … I decided to restart the computer last night – which also means restart the browser. Aaahhhh … it is running at a reasonable speed. YES! I probably should have done it awhile ago, but I always have sites open that I want to check … that I haven’t gotten to yet … so I resist closing it. But right now is nice and fast!

In answer to Bobbie’s question … the only email I get from the Universe is Monday through Friday, I get one message with the daily message from the Universe.

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Universe, health

Ruthie Hochman has a blog Ruthie’s Reason. Recently, she had a post on Simple Pleasures … I quote, “Simple pleasures are the “little” things that accentuate life and make the biggest difference. … Perhaps what I find most pleasurable about the simple things I delight in is their simplicity – the complete ease with which one is able to enjoy them.” I truly agree and I bet you do too. I loved her post! It’s worth reading the rest!

Solitude, Digital © Diane Clancy

Ruthie asked me to consider painting about simple pleasures. I think at the beginning she really meant one painting about simple pleasures. Since Ruthie loves my bubbles, I assumed she meant with the bubblescape series. She liked that idea. I have been hard at creating, working with the bubbles to take my abilities to the next level of creating more conceptual art – at least that is how I see it.

I am taking a concept and representing it with these bubbles ~ that really and truly little meaning past what I endow them with. It is pretty exciting to me! In general I just create, exploring my materials, being guided by my soul and my feelings … and then look at it to see what it is. This is somewhat new territory for me.

So I have 2 questions for you … one are what are your simple pleasures? What simple pleasures would you like to see in bubblescapes? This might be a little similar to Debi Cates questions. She is a talented and fun photographer. I am going to point you to the post where she was very generous in her assessment of me. She has a fantastic experiment going on where she asks people to make choices … I encourage you to check out her other posts too!

Back to the questions … what are your simple pleasures and what simple pleasures would you like to see in bubblescapes? Question 2 … someone asked me if I have any paintings of “lovers.” I have struggled with this a lot with the bubbles … but nothing is gelling very well. I thought someone might have an idea for lovers they would like to see me try in bubbles. I would love your help!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Ruthie Hochman, simple pleasures, bubblescape, conceptual art, Debi Cates, Ruthie’s Reason

Happy New Year!! Let’s all have the best year we have ever had! It would be wonderful for each of us to move ahead with our goals, health and relationships and to have peace and justice everywhere on earth. This includes environmental justice – caring for the earth! Sounds good to me!! Marketing is going to wait a few days as I am inspired to write a few other posts first. Lisa Call inspired me to review the year in this post. Today I am going to look at 2007 and see what I have done and tomorrow focus on what I want to accomplish.

Lilac Wonder, Digital © Diane Clancy

Actually I have accomplished quite a bit in 2007 and perhaps it will be useful to document some of it. Some of these were goals and some weren’t.

• Opened my CafePress Shop which allowed people to buy my paintings on mugs, tiles, totes, journals and more. This has been a goal of mine since 1988 (to offer my paintings on merchandise) and CafePress has allowed me to!
• Opened my Etsy Shop where I have been selling reproductions of my artwork from cards to larger matted prints. Opening this shop allowed me to reach more people who wanted to buy my artwork. I have been wanting to market more effectively for a long time.
• Learned about Art Trading Cards (ATC or ACEO) this fall and started offering them for sale. These were my best sellers at Etsy.
• Learned about blogs this spring and have posted a post every day since the end of March on this blog.
• Had several clients for whom I created web sites and blogs. If you go to my site and look under links to clients links, you can see some of them.
• Several clients wanted substantial graphic design work which I was delighted to do!
• I exceeded my financial goals for the year.
• Thanks to one of my readers on this blogs, I am doing better at keeping on top of my financial records … trying for every day to keep the details fresh in my mind as I put them into my databases.
• I have maintained some local card sales.
• Made fantastic connections with online friends!! Thank you!!!
• This fall is when I think I first heard about social networking … I have been very hard at work doing this!! Sometime I will do a post with my connections so you can connect with me in these various ways.
• Found out about and joined WWAO, Worldwide Women Artists Online, a great group of women artists who sell our work online. I have made lots of great connections there.
• On Etsy found out about VAST, Visual Artists Street Team. I was in the group for about a month before I became a moderator … so this is a great opportunity to again connect with other visual artists who sell our artwork.
• Had a very small amount of licensing of my artwork. This was something I wanted to pursue a lot … next year.
• Several clients hired me to put their animal companions into fields of flowers or butterflies. This was a big success.
• I sent out one email newsletter this year – and I didn’t get any “take me offs.” Several people wrote back thanking me for this holiday newsletter.
• Finished “Reflections in Blue IV,” a pastel series I have been working on.
• Been creating digital art like wild, supported greatly by your support and enjoyment of my bubblescapes.
• I have cut a whole pile of blank ATCs that are all ready for me to fill up .. it should be a great way to get back into my traditional painting …. next year.
• Our local Artists of Franklin County became much clearer about our goals, under my leadership. We put on 3 AWE (Artists Window Exhibits) since mid-summer.
• I was invited (and accepted) to be on the Board of Directors of the Create Franklin County, the regional group working to build the Creative Economy.
• I am sure there are more .. but this is exciting to see all the things I have done to move my business ahead as I wanted.

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: goals, peace, justice, earth, Lisa Call, CafePress, ATC, ACEO, Etsy, blogs, clients, web sites, graphic design, financial goals, social networking, WWAO, VAST, licensing, newsletter, digital art, AWE, Creative Economy

Illustrator Friday has a challenge every week. This week is Little Things. As usual, there are many ways to interpret the topic. I have chosen to create about the “little things” that can irritate us or bring us delight.

The Little Things, Digital © Diane Clancy

It’s the

Little Things

That tend to become

Big Things

Whether they are

Positive

or

Negative …

It’s the Little Things

That translate into

Quality of Life

Speaking of little things, or should I say big things, I found this moving video about an African lion and his gratitude.

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: African lion, gratitude, Illustrator Friday, love, animals