Diane Clancy's Art Blog

This video is absolutely amazing!! If you loved that lion video I showed you before – and who didn’t? Then you will LOVE LOVE LOVE this video … it is utterly amazing …  some of us have cried from the beauty.  I know I could put the video here … but it slows things down more – so I wanted to link you to it.  It will open in a new window.  

Spring Motif, Digital © Diane Clancy

Speaking of slowing things down, my blog is loading more slowly than it used to … I am not sure if it is from the java scripts for the shops and places where you come from, or all the little images I have in the sidebar … so when I have time – ha ha!!! – I am planning to put more pages on this blog and put some of my links and shops there and put all my fun awards on another page too.  

Others involved in the issue a few days ago say that it is actually I whom is owed an apology – I think that is accurate … but not worth getting involved with.  I apologized (way more than I should have  - but it is done) … thank you for your support!!!

~ Diane Clancy

Some good news on the environment – I have mentioned that we have been working to protect the wetlands where they want to build a 160,000 square foot store in our small county.  The developer (who is developing this on speculation) says that the wetlands isn’t really a wetlands so shouldn’t be protected.  An independent firm was hired … one that our mayor hand picked.  Our mayor has run on a platform of promising a discount store – no matter the cost to the environment. Great news!!  The independent firm said that Wetlands 4 IS a wetland!!! So very good!!  We shall see what happens now.

Tropical Eye, Digital © Diane Clancy

Today is also another big day in our town. Today is election day and we shall see if we can get some people into town offices that can take some creative action to get our town back on track. We have some real work to do (as many places do) to get the finances balanced and the schools doing great again.  Unfortunately this same mayor had slashed art, sports and music when she first came in to office and lots of students then “choiced out” to other towns … and took the tax money with them.  This school choice started in Massachusetts awhile ago and is not working for our town. All in all I am hopeful that we can get some people in office who are not running on their personal agendas!!

My shop at Etsy is http://dianeclancy.etsy.com. If you ever see an image that you want as an ACEO or any other size, just let me know and I am glad to create it for you!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: environment, Etsy

It is Earth Day!! Here it is glorious, warm and sunny.  I feel very lucky.  (Walked 8 houses today).  The painting especially for Earth Day … it is showing up taking a leap up in our ability to take care of the environment … jumping up to the next level.  Also, by jumping up it is showing us have a smaller, lighter footprint on the earth …  I hope we can each do that.  I am building up my strength again so I can walk more rather than drive just down the street.  That is today’s contribution.  Thank you so much for coming by!!

Earth Day, Digital © Diane Clancy

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Earth Day

This is the image that I have spent a day and half printing this little ACEO (2.5 x 3.5″) ..do you believe it? Wild huh? But lines kept coming out in different places that didn’t belong there. I got it printed correctly on the 7th … yes, you heard me, try. But I have lots of little seconds now that I can give away when someone buys one of my ACEOs.

Creation I, Digital © Diane Clancy

I created this in Illustrator .. sometime I will explain the difference between Photoshop and Illustrator. One is vector and the other is bitmap .. when I feel better I will explain it .. it is a fun explanation. But I tricked all the programs and at last it is gorgeous!! The print quality is so so much better that it is worth all the work. But I got it ..

Right now I am missing a Greening Greenfield show that we worked on for months. I did the program for the show and it should be so much fun. There are people there in corn, carrot, apple, and 2 other fruit and vegie costumes. Sunny Green, a solar puppet, is there and there are 16 foot high puppets that are doing the show. The foyer is going to be a show in itself before and after the performance!! What fun I hope everyone has!!

I hope you are well!! I appreciate so much that you are still commenting when I am so behind. I am hoping to catch up … thank you!! And I am so glad you are in my life.

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: ACEO, Illustrator, Greening Greenfield

Thank you to everyone who stopped by and looked and commented – even though I didn’t write. I did not feel well enough to do anything but share an image and it means a lot to me that you came anyway!! Thank you!

Green Moon, Digital © Diane Clancy

I am pretty excited because I got news of the results of my grant application to the Local Cultural Council. Some of you will remember I applied back in October 2007. I got the notification letter and was awarded the full amount I asked for. I have never even applied for a grant before so I am very delighted! This grant is to coordinate the AWE (Artists Window Exhibits) Project in downtown Greenfield, Franklin County, western Massachusetts, US.

I don’t just get the money … I have to do the work and then submit invoices for the particularly parts of the work. One of the big things I will need to do is make a database of all the potential places to exhibit our work (mainly store windows), contact information and any specific details. To do this, I will have to learn a new program to make it easily accessible to others. With this database in other years someone else could more easily take over.

I am now off to the board meeting of the local group, currently Create Franklin County, which works to stimulate the local creative economy, the economy that includes artists, web designers, and lots of small home-based businesses. I think it also includes building the green economy – or at least they are in conjunction with each other.

Tonight is a big step for the town. We have joined ICLEI. ICLEI is an international membership association of local governments working to reduce greenhouse gas emissions. They provide programs, tools, software assistance and technical expertise towards this goal. To find out more about ICLEI and its programs go to www.iclei.org. The is for local towns and cities working to deal with climate change. Much of this paragraph is taken word for word from the promotional materials. This is sponsored by the Greening Greenfield group that I belong to and am active with.

These are 2 important meetings to go to today … and I am still only at half steam. (This is an expression that means I still do not feel very well). Thank you for coming and reading!! I will catch up your blogs soon.

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: grant application, Local Cultural Council, AWE, Create Franklin County, creative economy, ICLEI, climate change, Greening Greenfield

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

Today is Christmas ~ many people celebrate this holiday around the world ~ in honor of Christ as a symbol of love, peace, forgiveness and holiness. No matter what your thoughts are of Christ as a man and religion, I bet we can agree that holiness, peace, love, forgiveness, kindness and joy are wonderful ~ and that we can all use more of them. Here’s to a celebration of joy and peace to each and every one of us in this whole earth that we inhabit together. Here’s to remembering we ARE together in this ~ with each other, and with the earth!

Indigo Radiance, Digital © Diane Clancy

~ Diane Clancy

I am delighted you want to hear about my marketing experiences … I have lots more to share!! After the long one yesterday, I am going to give you a short one on a different topic and then back to marketing tomorrow! By the way, I LOVE this painting!!

Frosty Clarity, Digital © Diane Clancy

I think some of my readers would enjoy this link I came across recently – Black Beauty Ranch. I recognize our friend Lulu … so you might want to check this out.

This is what their site says, “The Cleveland Amory Black Beauty Ranch is a world-renowned animal sanctuary in Murchison, Texas. Its nearly 1,300 acres are home to more than 1,200 domestic and exotic animals, many of whom have been rescued from near-death situations such as slaughterhouses, biomedical research laboratories, and trophy hunting ranches. Others are discards from circuses or roadside zoos, or were former victims of the exotic pet trade. Still others have come from public lands where they were threatened with extermination by the federal government.”

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: marketing, Black Beauty Ranch

Last night was the sub-committee of the Public Education for Greening Greenfield – the last in too many environmental and Creative Economy meetings in a row. I am exhausted and the door lock downstairs broke and the furnace was off when I got home. As you might guess I need some rest. So this is short tonight. But I would LOVE to hear how you are!!

The Docks, Digital © Diane Clancy

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: environment, Creative Economy

After the ice of yesterday (in my post), I figured we could use a little spring weather. So here is my gift to you. I want to share with you a few things I have been doing the last few days … I have put several new items into my Etsy shop and I would be delighted if you would look at them. This is my Etsy Shop. I am pretty excited! (And I hope you are too!)

Spring Creation, Digital © Diane Clancy

The other big thing I have been doing is networking. I have either set up or developed several networking sites and tools. I have no idea if it even is going to make sense to have done, but I felt it was important to try. My Blog Catalog entry has a section called communities. This is a link to a bunch of these other sites.

If you are involved in any of these other sites, please choose me as a friend – I would love to connect with you there. I know there are different rules for these sites … some one is allowed to showcase one’s stores and on others one is not allowed to be directly commercial. Given that I am working to market my art online, obviously I would be happy to get some sales indirectly through this networking.

Anyone who knows the ins and outs of the various sites, please share the info with us. I am sure I am not the only one who would be interested!!

In a few minutes I go to two meetings in town – one supporting a bio-diesel plant in this town that the Planning Board is stalling on … and the other is a great sounding forum for Sustainable Development in our area. You begin to see the problem when the board is not going to this really big forum on an issue that is crucial to survival of the planet.

I will catch up with your blogs … and I would love to hear about you!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Etsy, networking, bio-diesel plant, sustainable development, bio-diesel, Blog Catalog