Diane Clancy's Art Blog

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

Here is one of the two vibrant, colorful paintings I created a few days ago – an Art Card, ACEO (2 1/2 x 3 1/2″).  This one is called Sunny Blue – I hope you are enjoying these pastels!!   Today I created 2 more flower pastels – but it will take me a couple of days to get them scanned and prepped.  I wish I had an easier system to share them with you the day I create them!  That is one of the beauties of digital art!! Today is a Sunny Blue day here!

Sunny Blue, Pastel © Diane Clancy

I got this one listed as an original in one of my shops!!  Each original is listed in only one shop – since I don’t want to deal with the possibility that at any original (so only ONE original) would sell at 2 shops at the same time!!  This one is listed at my ArtFire Shop.  I might make some limited edition prints (that means, a certain number, not open-ended) … but there is just this one original!  This is listed right here at ArtFire.

Elegant Green, Pastel © Diane Clancy

I am very excited to now have an original at three shops online!!  Making progress!  Thank you so much for coming by and looking at these!  The originals have no signature on the front – only the back – and the color is more delicate than it is here.  The prints I make will be a little more vibrant as the color is here.  I lightened the images for the shops of the originals to more accurately represent the color.

These listings can take so long!!  I have a free membership at ArtFire so I haven’t been there for a bit.  Several things have changed so now I need to go back through all my listings and make changes – not my cup of tea!  But necessary to be an artist in business. How are you doing?  Thank you for stopping by!!  I would love to hear how YOU are!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Diane Clancy, vibrant colorful painting, pastel, ACEO, Art Card, ArtFire, online marketing

Today is SWAN Day (Support Women Artists Now) – today, March 28, 2009 is the second year of this “new international holiday that celebrates women artists.  It is an annual event taking place on the last Saturday of Women’s History Month (March).” The executive director, Martha Richards says  “Together we will build a world where women artists get the respect they deserve!” There is a website SWAN Day (http://swanday.org) which lists 160 SWAN Day 2009 events in 11 countries!  WOW this is quite something to see all these people, women, working together together to make this world a better place for all us women artists!

Buying something from your favorite woman artists is a great place to start!  I am very active and involved in networking and supporting other artists online and at least 90% of the people in the artist teams and groups I am active with are women.  We are all working and searching for good ways to get our great work out there to YOU in a way that is affordable to you and gives us decent payment for what we have created.

SWAN Day (Support Women Artists Now)

At this website, there are some very cool resources.  Many of them are focused on raising money and publicity for SWAN Day … but they can be useful for us as women artists as we promote ourselves, our artwork and our art businesses.  We are starting to write press releases for the next AWE Project (Artists Window Exhibit) (Greenfield, Franklin County, MA, US) and I think we will be using these resources to improve what we send out to promote this event that features mostly women artists.

I am going to share some of the other resources that were shared with me.  I am quoting here from an email sent to me by Julie Forbes, Associate Director, SWAN Day.  Here is a very extended excerpt from her email.

Explore www.womenarts.org. Here’s some of what you’ll find:

**Grants/Resources Information**

Search our well-researched, annotated lists of arts funders, categorized by art form, at www.WomenArts.org/fund/fundlists.html. For answers to many of your funding questions, see our Funding FAQs page at www.womenarts.org/fund/FAQ.htm.

**Funding and Resource Newsletters for Film/Video and Theatre Artists**

These free, bi-monthly newsletters are chock full of current calls for entries from competitions and festivals and requests for proposals from funding organizations. Read recent issues or sign up for free subscriptions at www.WomenArts.org/fund/EmailNewsletterSign-Up.htm.

**The WomenArts Network**

A one-of-a-kind showcase of the diversity and creativity of women artists in all the artistic disciplines, the WomenArts Network is a webspace where woman artists or women-run arts organizations may post free profiles about themselves and their work. With over 1000 profiles of artists living in every state in the U.S. and 23 countries around the world, the WomenArts Network is helping women artists connect to each other and acting as a clearinghouse for those looking to hire a woman artist. Go to www.WomenArts.org and click on WomenArts Network to search the profiles or to get started creating one of your own.  End of the quote – and there was more … check out these resources and you will find them!

I hope you have enjoyed finding out about this, as I have.  And remember, today is SWAN Day (Support Women Artists Now), but EVERY day is a great day to Support Women Artists!!  I hope you read this today and also keep this for yourself and woman artists in your life! Thank you for stopping by!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: SWAN Day, women, Support Women Artists Now, Fund for Women Artists, WomenArts Network

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

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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

A portal is a brand new concept – a storefront with items of an artist from different shops all together.

Both shoppers and sellers have a great variety of choices online … in fact this incredible range of choices is both very freeing and can also be fairly overwhelming.  One shop has mugs, tiles and totes, another has custom postage while a third has prints of those luscious, vibrant, colorful paintings. How can one even know what is available?  There is a brand new concept – a storefront, a portal, where you can see items from all sorts of shops all together.  This idea solves much of the problem of searching through multiple shops to see what a particular artist or crafter makes.

Dreamscape, Digital © Diane Clancy

The Arcade at The Hand Made Product Directory allows one to do just that!  It is a pretty simple concept once you get the idea. I put my mugs and tiles from CafePress, cusomter US postage from Zazzle, posters from RedBubble, Art Cards (ACEOs) and framed reproductions from Etsy all in one spot so people have more choices in a manageable way.

Take a look at my storefront – Diane Clancy’s Art – it is a portal where you can go to look at merchandise from many of my shops all at once.  Conundrum I is one of my vibrant, colorful paintings that many of my customers love. On one page you can see Conundrum I as a mug, tile, tote, postage, ACEO, poster and card.

To me this is a revolutionary way to make online marking much more convenient for both artists and our collectors.  Another big advantage for us as artists and crafters is that this whole site is “human edited” … this means that someone helps make sure the images and the descriptions showcase your merchandise to a good advantage.  Most sites are computer edited … so this is a big plus … personalized help.

I encourage you to check out the whole Arcade – both for sellers and buyers.  My post from a few days ago talks more about the Arcade. Starting Monday each week one seller will be featured – I am going to be the first one on Monday … so I hope you will check it out.

Please share your thoughts with us on this … I would love to hear how  YOU handle shopping and selling with so many choices!  Thanks for coming by!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Online Art Marketing, vibrant colorful paintings, storefront, Arcade, The Hand Made Product Directory, CafePress, Zazzle, RedBubble, Etsy, portal, artist, art

I have promised to look at my goals for 2009 and share them with you.  You can see my assessment of last year’s goals on Assessing My Goals for 2008.  As expected, many of my assessments of how I did go right into what I want to do this year. You will note that several categories of what I have been doing have been dropped.

Between Worlds II, Digital © Diane Clancy

Local Art Networking

• Continue on the board of Fostering the Arts to build the creative economy
• Artists of Franklin County – focus on supporting new leadership
• AWE Project (Artists Window Exhibit) for Spring and once or twice more.  We are expanding the artist and store base, and I am focusing on sharing responsibility and empowering others to step up.
• Maintain the art sales I have locally and be open to new ones
• Much of my focus this year will be in streamlining this time

Online Sales

• Expanding my offerings in the (many) various stores where I offer my work.  Continuing to offer more images on added merchandise.
• Maintaining these shops
• Continuing to tweak my presentation
• Consolidate rather than continue to expand (mostly)
• Increase sales

Networking

• Continue my leadership roles in the art networking I do
• Continue to empower people to take over more responsibility
• Continue to develop as an artist
• Figure out how to leverage all the networking I have done – and the building of trust and knowing me – into more sales

Licensing

• Assess whether I want to pursue licensing and decide whether offering my paintings on merchandise fulfills my purpose of having my art widely available
• Seriously assess whether my work would be licensable by companies

Graphic Design & Web Design Clients

• Continue with clients as they come along

Rework My Website and Blog

• Rework the blog to make the sidebar shorter and put the info onto pages instead
• Add galleries of new work to my website (particularly bubblescapes as has been requested)
• Continue to add technology – in moderation

Create Lots of Art

• Continue to play and create
• Get back into the studio to work with traditional mediums
• Stay in my creative channel
• Go to another level

Health, Harmony & Well-Being

• Move my life forward
• Gently continue to move my life into total harmony
• Live with joy, excitement and love
• Simplify and clarify
• Learn to make decisions more efficiently

Thank you for being in this journey with me in my life as an artist.  It helps me stay focused to know that I am sharing this path with others … both artists and fans.  I would love to hear your thoughts … both about my life and yours … and the world.  Thank you for coming by!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: goals, art, art marketing, online sales, licensing, Creative Economy, networking

There is a very exciting online store that I want to share with you – both for the sellers and buyers.  It is a new concept and very helpful. It is a portal … sounds exciting, doesn’t it?  Keep reading to find out.  If you can’t wait, skip to the bolded paragraph below. As you know, there are tons of new online stores in that have begun in the last year … and even more in the last few years … It has become confusing and a bit overwhelming for many of us artists and crafters to know how to navigate all the choices to decide where to put our work.  Customers too are able to go to so many different stores that it can all get a bit much.

Snowy Owl Tile from CafePress © Diane Clancy

I have been lucky enough to be steered in the direction of an unusual site – The Handmade Product Shopping Directory. This shop is different from most shops that nothing is actually sold to customers there … Instead artists and others can list their shops and items there and then customers are directed to the individual shops. There are about 40 categories … and art is only 1 category – so you can see there are lots of types of merchandise. This place is worth checking out!  When you go there … look on the left bar and you will see all the many choices.  My listing is under the art one.

Emma in Flowers I Ornament from CafePress © Diane Clancy

But there is a very exciting new concept at Handmade Product Directory!! They have started an Arcade … which consists of storefronts of many customers … This Arcade has 8 categories on the side .. you can see them when you go there.  If you click on Art, you get a list of items from different shops in the Arcade. So, as a customer, you get to go through all the listings from the various shops at once.  As an artist, people who go to the Arcade and look for art, can see my work without looking specifically for me.  It is a win-win storefront.

Conundrum I Postage from Zazzle © Diane Clancy

In this Arcade you can have your own storefront. This is an incredible new concept and great for me! In one place I can show my vibrant, colorful paintings on mugs, postage and prints all in one place. My Arcade Shop has mugs from CafePress, postage from Zazzle and prints from Etsy. I am delighted with this concept!  For me to be able to show the variety of my work on the different merchandise is wonderful!!

Violet Mist Print from Etsy © Diane Clancy

This way I do not have to send you to lots of different shops so you can see what my paintings look like as prints, mugs, tiles, totes, postage, cards and more. When you click on an item, you go to the actual shop where it is sold.  That is what is so unique – listing merchandise from different shops – all under ONE roof!

In the Garden Mug from CafePress © Diane Clancy

It costs nothing to open an Arcade and only 10 cents – for a whole year – to list an item.  I think it is a brilliant idea and I will be putting many more of my works into my Arcade!! What do you think … does this concept work for you as an artist, crafter, other seller or buyer?  Thanks for coming by!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: portal, online stores, The Handmade Product Shopping Directory, Arcade, vibrant, colorful paintings, CafePress, digital painting, creative process