A reminder of this giveaway – ends tomorrow – please To win, just leave a comment ON THE ORIGINAL POST!!! Also Lynne Riechhart has another great UPrinting giveaway for business cards!  Check out her blog too!

UPrinting.com does Online Printing and they asked me to participate in a Blog Giveaway of one of their 16 x 20 Rolled Canvases.  They have Canvas Prints among many other printed items like business cards.

Rolled Canvas UPrinting.com Giveaway

The prize is a chance to put YOUR own image onto canvas … whether that is one of your paintings, photographs or other images.  This is a great opportunity to celebrate a wonderful memory or your favorite piece of art.

Giveaway Prize

16 x 20 Rolled Canvas for One (1) Winner
Specifications: 1 Business Day Turnaround
Shipping: FREE UPS Ground Shipping
Eligibility: Limited to US Residents only

Contest ends midnight May 13 – that way I can announce the winner on May 14!!  And it could be YOU who gets to own a lovely 16 x 20 Rolled Canvas of your choice!!

To win, just leave a comment ON THE ORIGINAL POST!!! Make sure you leave your name and an email that allows a reply.  If YOU win, I will email you and get your email address to send to UPrinting – which I will use only to pass on to UPrinting so they can connect with you to give you your prize.

If you would like some more chances to win, blog about this post with a link back to here and to UPrinting.com.   Leave a comment with the link to your post and you will get another opportunity. For yet another entry, twitter about this contest with a link to this post.  Then please leave a comment here.

I am planning to send an email newsletter.  If you would like to subscribe to it, post another comment saying you want to get my newsletter – make sure you have given me the email you would like it sent to.  That will also give you an entry into the giveaway!

If you are the very lucky winner will be notified by email and I will pass along your name and email address to UPrinting,com and they will contact you directly.

Thank you to UPrinting for sponsoring this giveaway!! Remember them for your Online Printing and Canvas Prints.

Twitter: @uprinting
Blog: blog.uprinting.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/UPrinting

Thank you for coming by my blog!! I hope your weekend is wonderful and filled with delight! GOOD LUCK to YOU!!
~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: UPrinting.com Giveaway, Lynne Riechhart

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

This is one of the AWE Project displays (Artists Window Exhibit).  I think this particular display is superb!!  Cindy is the person who helped us with our window display at Wilsons .. she has quite an eye for creating beautiful displays!  This is one of the photos we used today in the TV snippet.

Cindy Dikeman at CopyCat Print Shop, Photography © Ellen Blanchette

The piece for the TV went very well I think … we had a short script where Susan Elkin and I took turns sharing information.  There was a short shot of us at the beginning and then 8 photos of the AWE Project.  Susan Elkin and Ellen Blanchette are the photographers  who provided the images.

Well … we made it through today … this was the worst of this week’s piled up appointments – somehow we made survived fairly well!  Unfortunately due to complications 2 things have to get redone on Friday (not due to anything we did – just life’s complications) … but the rest of the week is just busy, not quadruple booked.  Whew!!  Thank you for all your support in this process!!  How are YOU doing?  Thank you so much for coming by!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, Susan Elkin, AWE, AWE Project, Artists Window Exhibit, Ellen Blanchette, Cindy Dikeman, TV Show

The Artists of Franklin County, a local group that I coordinate, have been having Artists Window Exhibits (AWE Project) since 2006.  We have a current one going on for the month of May.  Local artists are putting our artwork in local windows and on indoor walls to beautify Greenfield and to help build the Creative Economy. Today Susan Elkin and I put up our artists window at Wilson’s – the local department store.  Actually we helped our friend Cindy put up the windows … she did an incredible job and I learned tons today by assisting her!!  Here I am in the before picture … this is what the empty window looked like.

Diane at Wilsons, Photography © Susan Elkin

There are lots of reflections but I hope you can see the general idea.  The after picture is below.  We hung cloth at the back of the window space, hung paintings from the ceiling, put more cloth on the floor – Cindy did a fantastic job!! Susan will take more pictures at another time so you can see what an incredible window Cindy created!! Wow!!

Wilsons, Photography © Susan Elkin

Setting up the window took hours and I am ready to fall on my face.  Today is done … the next couple of days are still booked way too solid.  I am so tired I need retype at least 2 words per sentence … so I am going to stop here for tonight … wish me luck soaring gracefully through the next few days!  Thank you so much for coming by!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, Susan Elkin, AWE, AWE Project, Artists Window Exhibit, Wilson’s

The Artists of Franklin County, a local group that I coordinate, have been having Artists Window Exhibits (AWE Project) since 2006.  Susan Elkin and I are putting our work into Wilson’s Department Store tomorrow morning.  I do think we are ready at last!!  I think it is going to look very lovely since our friend Cindy is helping us.

Opus, Photography © Susan Elkin

I also finished preparing for the TV Show that we need to record on Wednesday afternoon.  I have sent the images to the local access station, GCTV, so they can load them up for our piece.  Each person or group who received a grant from the  Greenfield Local Cultural Council has been asked to record a segment to help create an hour long show about the grants.  It is pretty exciting – so far I am not as scared as the last time I was on the TV to record a show.

The week still looks pretty hectic … now Wednesday morning has 3 things … all necessary in the same 3 hour time slot.  I have no clue how we are going to manage all this!!  And it all has to be done in time to go record at the TV station.  Tuesday morning there are only 2 things at the same time.  Somehow I have to keep cool and stay rested through this all!!  Thank you for your supportive comments … I have no idea how I am going to make it until Thursday night!

But I have a list in my AutoFocus notebook and at least have the new things down and I am being able to knock off (that means finish) some of the details that I have written down  – so whew!  I did manage to scan 4 of the new ACEOs today.  The People’s Voice (a magazine for which I am the editor and layout person) is going to have to fit in the cracks at the moment.  I did quite a bit on it and then had to wait for people to send things in. I have everything now but have to work it around the things that cannot change in the next 4 days …

I will check in tomorrow – I am so happy that I may be able to show you one of the new pastel Art Cards.  Have a great day! Thank you for stopping by!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, Susan Elkin, AWE, AWE Project, Artists Window Exhibit, Local Cultural Council, grant, GCTV, People’s Voice

Today we have been getting ready for the current AWE Project (Artists Window Exhibit).  Most of the windows are already up and looking great!  But Susan Elkin and I are doing Wilson’s Department Store window from May 11 to June 8 (instead of the month of May).  We are the first ones to show in this particular window – this store is one of the anchors of downtown Greenfield.  So it is pretty exciting to be showing there.  It is going to be quite a showcasing of our work!  Our friend who creates Wilson’s windows came over today to plan out how the window will look.  It will look lovely but be quite complicated to put up – I hope Susan will take pictures so you can see it!

Sunrise Flowers, Pastel © Diane Clancy

These next 4 days are going to be quite a ride for me … there is a lot of prep work for these AWE windows, prep for the TV recording Wednesday afternoon, more publicity about the AWE Project, the monthly Fostering the Arts in Franklin County (building the Creative Economy), 2 big meetings around the local mayor’s race, getting the garden started and some other life chores that need to be done in the next 4 days.  Oh right, and I should do the layout of the People’s Voice – now have the materials all ready to work with.  And I still need to be getting more rest for my health. Wish me luck to somehow flow through it all with grace, ease, delight and joy!!

How are you doing?  Thank you for stopping by today!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, pastel, ACEO, Art Card, AWE Project, Artists Window Exhibit

The Artists of Franklin County, a local group that I coordinate, have been having Artists Window Exhibits (AWE Project) since 2006.  We have a current one going on for the month of May.  Local artists are putting our artwork in local windows and on indoor walls to beautify Greenfield and to help build the Creative Economy.  Last time we included work by the students from the local high school.  This time we included people who are receiving services in the community.

Bryant Stewart at Opus, Photography © Susan Elkin

We sent out lots and lots of press releases and here is a great writeup in the weekly paper.  They took most of it word for word from the press release which is great (that they used it, not that I wrote it great)!  Here is the link I could find to show you the whole article.  In the print paper they also included 4 of the images that I sent them.  Now that I have seen it, of course I need to write them a thank you note. Some of it is below:

<Quoting from the Town Crier (and our press release)>

The Artists of Franklin County are presenting Greenfield with their extraordinary art for the entire month of May. Storefront windows up and down Main, Federal and Miles Streets will offer amazing artwork as local artists share their work with the community. The exhibit will begin on May 1 and run until June 1. This display of art is presented free of charge to the community by the Artists of Franklin County in conjunction with the Greenfield Business Association and Fostering the Arts in Franklin County. Anyone interested in purchasing art on display is asked to contact the artists directly.

The Artist Window Exhibit (AWE) has been showcasing artwork in Greenfield since 2006. AWE brings together area artists and local businesses to enhance the experience of Greenfield by seeing artists’ work in downtown windows. These exhibits have been very successful in the past, with positive feedback from artists, residents, visitors and shop owners.

Margaret Soussloff is displaying her work with AWE for the first time. Margaret says, “I work in Greenfield and walk down Main Street almost daily. While I walk I gaze in the windows, looking with my artist’s eye. I’ve enjoyed immensely the artwork displayed in store windows. It occurred to me, I could show my own art. That prompted me to take the plunge and have my art on display as part of AWE.”

<End of Quote>

It is pretty exciting to see our AWE Project in the paper!! Really fun! Particularly such a large spread!  This Wednesday Susan Elkin and I are going to be doing another TV piece at the local access TV station (GCTV).  Luckily it will be short since each of the people who received grants from the Local Cultural Council will be doing a brief piece.  All this is fun, exciting, frustrating, tiring and rewarding.  Thanks for stopping by!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, Susan Elkin, AWE, AWE Project, Artists Window Exhibit, Greenfield Town Crier, Press Release, Local Cultural Council, grant, GCTV

Thank you for stopping by!!  I am very tired but want to share this with you … I love the colors and the design – it seems very rich and royal.  This vibrant, colorful painting is my gift to you today to brighten up your life!

Cobalt Quilt, Digital © Diane Clancy

Tomorrow I am hoping to get more on top of all the work that has been sliding of late with all the other parts of life – those things have been interfering with my work.  I have almost finished the quarterly People’s Voice … a great publication of local writing and art.  Then I will be going to work on the current AWE Project (Artist Window Exhibit) that needs work to find more artists to exhibit in May. And there are lots of other things too. I am so sorry fot emails that have piled up – hoping to get to them tomorrow! Thank you for stopping by!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, AWE

The Free GiveAway is over – thank you to all who entered – it is pretty exciting!  I will choose a winner in the next few days … tell the winner, announce it here and send off the chosen prize!!  And remember every month I am going to have a giveaway … the other months I will be giving a card away … in exchange you will allow me to put you on my email newsletter list … as that gets going.  I promise I won’t send it too often … so check back to see if it is time for another giveaway!

Blue Wisdom, Digital © Diane Clancy

I am too tired today to figure out who won.  Partly because we had a good meeting for the Artists of Franklin County …  and partly because tomorrow is my hospital day for Remicade – I am pretty tired and stretched out. It is good because some other people are going to step up and help put on this next AWE Project (Artists Window Exhibit). This will help it last a long, long time!

Susan Elkin and I have been doing it quite long enough as mainly the 2 of us!  She has been a great help!  By the way, Susan has posted today!!

I have written up the hardest part of the directions for setting up a shop at The Arcade … but I still need a little more inforamation – that will also be coming shortly. If you would love to see my shop at The Arcade to see what it is, my shop is http://dianeclancy.dmpmc.net where you can see items from all my different shops.

I hope you like this vibrant,  colorful painting! Let me know if you have other ideas for the name … being so low energy tonight, I did what I could.  Thank you for stopping by!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: free giveaway, Artists of Franklin County, The Arcade, AWE Project, Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting

Hi everyone – some great news!! We made the front page of the Local Section of the paper today … You can read the whole article online at http://www.recorder.com/story.cfm?id_no=5538453.

Here is an excerpt: “Diane Clancy and Susan Elkin, local artists whose art also hangs at Simon’s Stamps and organizers of the exhibit and art stroll, said it is the third year the Artists of Franklin County have participated in downtown events.

”This is one of our biggest projects and this year we decided to include the younger artists of our town,” said Clancy. ”We wanted to show support to our local high school and there are some pretty good artists there.”

Elkin said another reason for doing the exhibit is to beautify the downtown while supporting local businesses, artists and the town.

”We want to be part of the local economic engine and foster a creative economy in Greenfield,” said Clancy.”

Conundrum I, Digital © Diane Clancy

It is wonderful to have this article so prominent!! Just great for the publicity it gives.  I am not feeling at all well today so I am going to keep this short and also use one of the images that is in the show.  Tomorrow is the fair.  Thanks for coming by!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Illustration Friday, AWE

The Artists of Franklin County (AFC) have been doing this AWE Project for a couple of years now. I have been coordinating this project since the beginning and it takes a LOT of time!  In Massachusetts we have Local Cultural Councils (LCC) that give grants to artists to help support work we are doing. This year I have received a grant of $1,000 to help defray the time I have put into this.

I have also applied for a grant for the next year – but it is unclear if there is going to be any money at all for LCCs given the budget cuts that this state – like most states – are going through.  But I feel committed to working to keep this project going.  If you would like to read more about the presentation that I made about this year’s grant, the second half of this post will give you some highlights of what we have been doing and the progress we are making.

From here, a lot of my work changes.  I have done the coordinating – a lot with Susan’s help.  Several others have stepped up and are taking more responsibility. This is the direction things need to keep going to make this project successful in the long term.  It needs to continue to be claimed as the project of the whole group – and that is happening more and more. I am pretty excited to be going in this direction.

This is one of my biggest organizing tasks this next year – supporting others to take leadership rather than take the leadership myself.  In other words, work myself mostly out of a job.  It takes time to transition like this, but in the long term, I will have more time for my own work.  I have put my own work on a lower level as I have focused nurturing on growing this organization … but I am very excited to see it coming into its own more and more.

Doing this in several areas of my life (artist life) is a main focus at the moment – and that is a lot of what I mean by organizing.  Thanks for coming by!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: AWE, fair, Susan Elkin, PSA, publicity, grant, Butterfly, organizing, Artists of Franklin County, Local Cultural Councils

Yesterday in talking about the board meeting of Fostering the Arts, I forgot to tell you about a publicity example other people mentioned that was very inspiring to me. This was an elementary school art teacher who decided to hold a display of her students work at the local food co-op.

People said she behaved as if she were showing the premier artwork in the whole world – the way she worked with the press.  (This was said with great admiration!) She created BUZZ around town about this show with the way she promoted the event. This was incredibly inspiring to me!!

This got me very excited!! The day after the meeting, I got out the publicity lists and materials and decided to make another go of it around the current and coming events.  A couple of people had written some materials and I had already pulled them together and sent them out to several news places.

Looking at them, I saw a few more corrections and decided they didn’t read as well as they could.  So I called up an artist (part of the Artists of Franklin County) and she reworked the press releases to make them tighter and clearer. Great!.

So with that in hand, I decided to tackle them all again … and to create some BUZZ!  If she could do it, so could I! Thus, I decided to tackle the local newspaper first (the Recorder) – the most important one … and I was incredibly anxious before I called – I don’t like to bother people. But I got a reasonable response – they will do what they can, but mainly a small announcement.

I had already been planning on talking with a regular reporter to see if they would write a story – besides seeing if the the Arts & Entertainment section could do a small feature on us.  They suggested which reporter woud be the most useful to speak with – and he transferred me to her.

Several things have happened since I started writing this post. Tomorrow at 1 in the afternoon, we are going to meet with the reporter and she is definitely going to do an article on us!! Yippeee!! We are in the process of creating buzz! She is going to write about the AWE (windows), the fair and also the students we are showcasign along with our own work. This is very exciting and I will share it with you when it is written – she says it is a definite!

Then I tackled the regional weekly (Valley Advocate) … they had recently had and article about art in the windows of the larger town in the lower valley. It took many tries but at last I made some contacts there and emailed the person who would be the most likely person. In the process I gave them the info again for a regular announcement. This will all be a lot less scary the next time.

Since I started this post, I have actually talked with the woman who would potentially be writing the article.  She was very nice, on deadline, but agreed to perhaps write an article. It would only be about the AWE Project since their publicity schedule is further ahead. But great!! It is a real possibility.

Talking with these people another time will be much easier.  Another good reminder – choose which things to turn over to others and which things to do yourself. I had thought the publicity was done a month ago, and then it got handed back to me, Tomorrow I will speak more about the grant, which will put things in perspective.

After dealing with the 2 main newspapers, I went on to send out the releases to another 10 or so. Then decided – hey, why not, and I called the local weekly (the Town Crier) and ended up eventually talking with the editor – she said she would try to do something small (that is all they do.)  And feeling successful, I even tackled the Boston Globe (centered about 100 miles away, that is the biggest paper in the state).  I manageed to get the email of the appropriate person and pitched the idea to him. I will folow up with another email when I am done with this post.

I have been doing the publicity for these events for the last couple of years, but this time I have definitely learned how to take things to another level. We also are doing some local access TV psa’s – (public service announcements) and some little TC spots. I now feel more ready to tackle the publicity another time.

Thanks for stopping by!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: AWE, fair, Butterfly, organizing, board meeting, Fostering the Arts, art teacher, Artists of Franklin County, buzz, publicity

Earlier in the week, I went to the board meeting of Fostering the Arts. This organization focuses on building the Creative Economy in Franklin County.  We are a fairly rural area with a very high (and unorganized) concentration of artists – of all kinds – and other creative people. We have lots of artists, writers, photographers, musicians, actors, craftspeople and lots of the technology support industries.  With online access, many local people work with businesses in New York and Hollywood.  I have even worked with a client from Paris, France.

There is a lot of mythology about artists not contributing very much to the economy .. but there has been a lot of research of what are the real facts – and they differ wildly from the established wisdom.   We had a Creative Summit here a couple of years ago (as part of this initiative).  There was a presentation from an expert (from outside the area) that showed lots of facts and figures.  It turns out investment in the creative arts has a much greater financial return than investment in most other industries. That was shocking to me!

But very reassuring and gave me that much more reason to focus on building art – both in my own career and in the county. So when I was asked to be on the Board of Directors, as an artist representative, I decided to go ahead and take the plunge.  I know I have good organizational skills so I decided this was important enough to go ahead and get involved.

We now have gotten a grant to develop a marketing plan – to bring up the whole creative economy in the region. A grand idea – but a necessary one to build the economy in this area.

At the board meeting this past week, the AWE Project (Artists Window Exhibit) was brought up as an example of a very successful artist initiative.  We are seen as a model of what artists can be doing to promote ourselves and the community.  I was amazed and gratified!!  They were even using us as THE visible example of the continuity of the whole initiative.

Sometimes I think about trying to get one of the jobs by doing some of these things … but I keep remembering that would divert my energy from my own work – and say, thanks, but no thanks – not that any of these jobs have come my way.  Having the grant for the AWE Project is a good addition to my art – mostly anyway – but anything approaching a more involved organizing job would not work for me. Tomorrow I will be working on my entry for the 2 Things Challenge, but Monday we will, at last, get to the grant. And thus to the press releases that I have been working on so hard. I am thrilled you are interested in hearing about my art life! Thanks for coming by!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Butterfly, organizing, board meeting, Fostering the Arts, Creative Economy, mythology, Creative Summit, organizational skills, marketing plan, AWE