Diane Clancy's Art Blog

Now for something I don’t think you’ve seen before. This came out of playing around with Studio Artist – a very fun computer art program. I had so much fun transforming a beautiful bird image into a horse of a different color. Hmmm … I bet Pet Monologues might think this could be an appropriate animal image for them. You are seeing this image because a friend wanted some of my ACEOs. She went through all my galleries and this is one of the ones she choose to want to have. Neither the Fanciful Animal Images or the bubblescapes are in those galleries. I need to make bubblescape galleries and the animals have their own galleries. I am delighted that such a fantastic artist wants my work – I will ask her if I can share one of her pieces with you sometime and point you to her website and Etsy shop.

Nature Reflections II, Digital © Diane Clancy

The AWE (Artists Window Exhibit) Project is in just over a week. I have to get going on printing, matting and framing my work to be exhibited. Luckily Susan is fantastic at helping me with such things. (Particularly the framing which is the hardest for me). I need to take some steps to get that going or else I will be in trouble in a week. Please wish me luck!

Today I am feeling more connected to the Universe energetically – whew!! I feel like my body is made of light and energy (which we all are). To me this is a great indication that I have taken another step in healing!! Thank you for all your support, kindness and healing.

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Studio Artist, Pet Monologues, Fanciful Animal Images, bubblescapes, Etsy, AWE

I know I entered one the last 2 days, but I had so much fun that I wanted to make another entry that would feel very different! I like to enter the 2 Things Challenge each week. This week is Dead & Alive. It was fun once I thought of the concept of live emerging from death!! I thought you might like to see last week’s entries …. they are here. Anyone can join in, and I hope you give it a try!! We would love more people playing with us! Details are at this link above.

Renewal Dead & Alive, Digital © Diane Clancy

I have done 12 versions of this … 6 of them in this color scheme. I was going to show you the 6, but … I make these in Bryce and Bryce creates a tif file that is a Preview type (a generic graphic program.) I open the Preview file in Photoshop and do my prep work there, make it bigger, add a signature and generally make it mine.

This morning I had the 6 Preview files open trying to decide which I liked the best … to show you. I was going to show you all 6 because I thought it would be helpful to see the difference … but then I opened all 6 in Photoshop and it changed the color drastically. So there were sort of 12 versions … Then I went back to Bryce and the color looked different yet there …

Saturated Renewal Dead & Alive, Digital © Diane Clancy

So I got discouraged and decided instead to write about color shift from program to program. I knew the colors shifted between Preview and Photoshop … but usually the more vibrant color in Photoshop is what I like. This time it reduced the subtleties and differences between the images.

I am learning so much about Bryce as I am working on these paintings … shifting fog and seeing what happens … shifting haze and seeing what the difference is. I learn the most when I have a picture almost where I want it but not quite .. so I tweak and tweak.

I have now gone and reduced the saturation in Photoshop so I like the painting better – it was irritating me. But I have decided to show you both versions so you can see the difference.

OK, now I have gotten both versions up online and they don’t look all that different to me … and!!! they are less saturated than they were on my computer screen.  Yet I am looking at them on my computer!! But even between browsers there is incredible color shift. Well, you have a post about color … and perhaps that is interesting to you. I sure hope so!

Yesterday I made it to my Remicade day for the Crohn’s Disease I have. They were a little leery about giving it to me since my lungs are still not very good … but they decided it was ok. It had been hard to walk for about a week from arthritis, and the Remicade helped immensely!! The initial use of Remicade was for Rheumatoid Arthritis – I guess the 2 diseases have a lot of similarity because we with Crohns often get their medications after they get them.

I got a higher dose than I have ever had because it was being less effective … so hopefully I will notice a great difference and start to feel more energy than I have in months!! Thank you for all your caring and healing thoughts!!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: 2 Things Challenge, Bryce, color, color shift

Thank you for all your wonderful comments on my Illustration Friday entry yesterday!! You Really Made My Day!! Beverly said she had an entry ready to go but got stuck on making the thumbnail for the challenge. Obviously I would love to see her entry and would love to see Bev enter this challenge!! So I am going to share how I make the thumbnail … in-Photoshop there are usually multiple ways to do things … here is the way I do it. It takes a lot longer to tell how to do it (and read about it) than it does to just do it .. so please give it a try! Please forgive the large files … I thought want to make sure you can see the details to be able to follow.

Selection

First, I am bet you know the selection tool … the tool that allows you to choose a part of your image … it is circled in red. Choose this tool.

Fixed Aspect

Set it to the fixed aspect ratio … highlighted in red … and set it to 1 to 1 ratio. This makes it so you will have a perfect square as you make your thumbnail. Now go ahead and choose some part of the image … whatever part you want to use as the thumbnail that people will see.

Crop

Now that you have chosen the part of the image you want to save, go to Image on the top bar and go down and choose crop … highlighted in red.

Image Size

Next we will set the pixel size for our thumbnail. Illustration Friday has a pixel size of 50 by 50 … so that is what we will choose. Go to Image again on the bar across the top and go down and choose Image Size.

Set Pixel Size

A window will come up after you choose Image Size. It is good to set the resolution to 72 pixels/inch for the web. (Lower red highlight) Some people may use a slightly different number … but 72 is fine. This makes an image “lighter” for the web. For printing the resolution would be much higher, but for the web setting this number to 72 helps a page load faster.

Now … it is time for that 50 by 50 pixel that is their standard. The upper red highlight shows the pixels in the image. Here it is important to set 50 height and 50 width because that is Illustration Friday’s specification. Now you can see what we cropped the image to a square … this way it is easy to set the size to 50 by 50. Then press OK.

Save for the Web

Next we Save for the Web. The first time I did Illustration Friday I was hoping I could just upload a 50 by 50 jpeg … but it was a larger file than their specifications and it wouldn’t upload. So we now go to File on the top bar and go down to Save for the Web … highlighted in red.

Set Jpeg

It will open up into a big window like this. For a regular image, you will choose jpeg … and high is good. I use the default of Optimized checked off and Quality to 60. These are highlighted in red to help you find them. If your file has transparency, you will probably want to use gif.

Save

Now the Save box will come up. You want to make sure you like its name. For the web, there are no blanks in names … Save for the Web automatically puts “-” into between names. Choose where you want to save it and remember that. When you go to upload your thumbnail, you will, of course, need to find it again.

This was done in Photoshop CS2 …. I think you will be able to follow this .. even if you are using a different version. These are not the new fancy tools. I sure hope this was helpful to you!! I apologize again for slow download times for so many images!! Please let me know if you have questions.

It was so weird using the program to do what I was teaching you to do … all these images went through this process also (except resizing to 50 by 50). Enjoy and please let me know how it goes!! I am looking forward to YOUR Illustration Friday!

Golden Glow, Digital © Diane Clancy

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Illustration Friday, Photoshop

I know some of you loved yesterday’s colors … but these are the colors that really feed me … I just love them!! Colors like this make heart sing and make whatever feels heavy a little lighter. I will keep creating in the other colors that others of you like too though … don’t worry.

Ocean Dreams, Digital © Diane Clancy

Jean Levert Hood asked me a question about BlogCatalog, so I went and figured it out. By the way, Jean has a beautiful blog here. “Diane, I do have one question. How do you get BlogCatalog to know you’ve updated your blog?” I found it once and I found it again … so here goes. Here is my BlogCatalog. Go to profile (top of right sidebar), then go to the second section of the middle (“My Blogs”), click on “manage blogs” (tiny little link on top right of this section).

You will go to a new page. You will see your blog listed … on the right side, there is a title called “Actions.” Click “manage” – one of the 3 choices under Actions. The 5th section down on the page is “Thumbshot.” There you will see a button “Update My Thumbshot” – click that. I cannot imagine how I ever found that once (I too wanted mine updated), never mind twice. But at least now we can look back here! Thank you, Jean, for asking!

NicoleB Photography asked me to be part of her Artists Unite section of her blog. I am showing you to her About Me section since I think it is a good place to start with her photography blog. NicoleB is currently living in Kuwait – I think you will find her interesting. She has photos from her travels.

Nicole also has asked me to write posts … particularly showcasing some of my work for sale. Here is the latest post. Here is my other post if you want to see it. It is fun to connect with others in different parts of the world! Other artists are welcome to joint Artists Unite … I think NicoleB wants more artists! NicoleB is very much on top of her email (in my experience). If you leave a comment in an email saying you want to join, then she will get back to you. If you have an Etsy Shop or such, it could be one more way to market your shop!

Technorati Tags: color, Jean Levert Hood, BlogCatalog, NicoleB Photography, Artists Unite, Etsy

BlogCatalog is a really cool place to meet lots of other bloggers! I stumbled upon this place last September and have met several wonderful people there. My profile there is here. I have been writing about it this week and I have heard that it is being helpful to go into so much detail … so I am going to continue. You may want to go back to Sundays and Tuesdays posts to catch up.

Regeneration, Digital © Diane Clancy

First, to speak a little about this next painting in our Simple Pleasures bubblescape series. Those who know my work, know this is a different color range than I usually use. But when this image came out this way, I feel it has a lot of power, a very deep, earthy power. It took while to figure out its title. I ask the paintings what they are wanting to say and how they want me to present them to the world. I feel this is about regeneration and a deep, deep healing and redoing. I hope you enjoy it!

Back to BlogCatalog. We have finished with the center column and through “Shoutbox” on the right hand column. Next is “Broadcast.” This is a part of the sidebar I have discovered within the last week – chagrin here. When you join a “neighborhood” (see the other posts, it is saying you are interested in someone else’s blog – so you join the neighborhood), you then actually become part of a neighborhood. When someone posts a blog post on their own blog (like this one), they can choose to “broadcast” to their neighborhood about this post.

Not everyone broadcasts each time, but it is a way of knowing what someone’s new post is about. You can also leave a comment about the broadcast if you like. If you have set your notifications to inform you when you get a broadcast, then you will get an email each time one of your neighborhoods broadcasts.

Now for the fun part .. I had been getting broadcasts for quite while now. I have made a few myself. When I got one from someone else and I wanted to make one, it gives me a button on that right sidebar to make a broadcast. But only last week, I found out, not only are all the broadcasts I have received on the right sidebar … it also has a link “Post New Broadcast”!! Will wonders never cease! This makes it much easier to make a broadcast. You can view “All Broadcasts” and they will move to the center of the page in a list.

After Broadcasts (we are nearing the bottom here), there is a section called “Discussions.” Probably those are my own discussions that I joined. That must be it. I think I might have joined a few that sounded interesting. You can view “All Discussions” and they will move to the center of the page in a list.

Finally, there are “Neighbors.” I had to go look at it to figure that out. So neighbors are those who joined my neighborhood – those who want to receive my broadcasts. As before, you can view “All Neighbors” and they will move to the center of the page in a list.

I will do one last piece and then call this done unless and until you have questions or requests. If you click your blog (or one of your blogs), under the blog will be “Recent Viewers” – those who clicked on your blog link in BlogCatalog and looked at what you said about your blog. They may or may not be your friends or in your neighborhood.

The next section is your “Neighborhood” – these are the people who “joined your neighborhood” and receive broadcasts. Then is a list of your “Recent Posts” – this is actually from your blog (like this one) and lists your recent posts.

After that is a neat section called “Comments and Reviews” – I never knew about this until I got a review. You can see what people say and how they rate your blog. At the bottom you can make comments and reviews yourself – you would generally do this on someone else’s blog section.

One last thing that I have noticed in writing these posts. On the right, partway down, on the page that features one of your blogs, is a section called “Related Blogs.” This actually looks quite interesting and I will have to check out some of these blogs on my sidebar!

I hope this series has been helpful to you. Please feel free to ask questions or clarifications and I will do my best – or someone else will respond. Happy Blogging!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: BlogCatalog, social networking

On Sunday I posted about BlogCatalog – you may want to read that first. My profile at BlogCatlog is here. So, continuing from that post, in the center column, after “My Profile” and “My Blogs,” is “My Communities.” It took me quite awhile before I figured about what all that meant! OK, call me a slow learner – it gets a little overwhelming to me to learn about all the different formats and ways of being around this blogosphere.

Whimsy, Digital © Diane Clancy

“My Communities” are some of the social networking sites that are around. You can see on the side bar of this blog a list of my communities – BlogCatlog offers lots of cool little widgets that you can put on your blog. This little widget you can see is showing what some of my social networking sites are – like Flikr, and Facebook. Of course, BlogCatalog showcases only a handful of these sites … but they are some of the biggies like YouTube and MySpace. I particularly like that BlogCatalog gives people a place to put these sites into their profile.

If I like someone on BlogCatlog or through blogging like from this site, then I will like them elsewhere too. I find it fun to connect with people in a variety of ways. Sometimes people start these things with a network – like most of the kids at a certain college .. well, they have their initial friends cut out for them. But I am just an artist, in a rural area, and it is very nice for me to be able to connect with others across these different social circles!

Other widgets show who has been viewing your blog, who your neighborhoods (see the other post to see what they are) are, discussions (I haven’t entered into that yet if ever), your groups (which were covered the other day) and communities – which I love and which I have finally put on my blog after seeing it on numerous other blogs. This takes care of the center large column.

Moving to the right hand column … At the top is your name and also links to your profile and your account. A friend called me a few minutes ago and he wanted to know how to get back to his own page from mine. So thank him, Tom, for my telling you this. It took awhile for me to get this piece too. So click profile to get back to you … and account for settings and such.

Under that, is a link to edit your profile (the pencil) and create the widgets we have been talking about. Skipping to “Shoutbox.” Shoutbox allows you to leave messages for people – and they can be either public or private. If you want private, make sure you click the “private” button – I know obvious – but I missed that one the first time.

You can click on the link below an icon (person) in the shoutbox … BUT at the end of the Shoutbox list, is a box that you can put a shout into … so that is good. Took me awhile to find that shoutbox at the bottom too. You would use the shoutbox at the bottom of this part on someone else’s sidebar – when you want to leave them a message.

I just get overwhelmed by all the options!! I am sure I am not the only one. So, Shoutbox is just a way to message someone very easily. The profile is a magical place where you can do many things.

I think I better finish this tomorrow … or else it will go on too too long! If you would like to see the post I did today at World Gallery on Shades of Color, please check it out.

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: BlogCatalog, blogosphere, social networking, widgets, Flikr, Facebook, YouTube, MySpace, World Gallery

Illustrator Friday has a challenge every week. This week is Stitch. I think this looks like fabric with stitching on it. I hope you enjoy it! Illustrator Friday is a fun challenge with many, many participants. The type of art is very wide ranging and I have run into a couple of children’s entries too. I have also found a couple of wonderful bloggers this way! You might want to check it out and look at some entries. There is a “link viewer” that makes that easier.

Stitch, Digital © Diane Clancy

Stitch

A stitch in time saves nine

Many little stitches together

Can create Beauty

Stitching is what Art

Women were allowed

For Centuries

Stitch – one little stitch

Creates the whole.

Les from My Radical Blogs does reviews of blogs to see how they function and are written. His tag line is “Rant Raves and Blog Reviews by the radical blogger.” This is the link to his blog. He gives reviews based on a 10 point system. The reviews this week ranged from 8 to 9.5. My review was rated at 9. From his feedback (and I think he is correct) I put the subscription form and rss feeds back closer to the top – for your convenience!

He thought my writing is interesting and the art superb! He made some other sidebar suggestions that I am not going to take for now because I like it the way it is. But he has put an idea in my head and I will consider it. It was nice, he thinks anyone interested in art should visit regularly. You can see my review right here. Thank you, Les!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Illustrator Friday, Les, My Radical Blogs, rss feeds

I am so thrilled that I have been featured on another blog!!! You have heard me speak of Chris O’Byrne who has a blog focused on online art marketing. Chris has decided to feature an artist every Friday on his blog. He decided to start with me!! I hope you will take the time to go over and check out his very interesting blog … thank you again, Chris!! You (my readers) are so so wonderful!!

Lemon Flight, Digital © Diane Clancy

One other thing I want to let you know about today … I have found out about a new resource for bloggers called rrsHugger.com. I think many of you know what rss feeds are … a way to be able to keep up with your favorite blogs by a feed reader instead of having to go visit the site to see if they have posted yet. The rss feed is the mechanism that gives you the info about their blog.

Each blogger chooses a blog name … mine is www.rssHugger.com/dianeclancy.com.  They are providing this service free at the moment if you write a post about them. I am hoping you will go visit it.

This is great for bloggers because there is a lot of exposure. One exciting thing is that they have a random way of showing blogs so that everyone gets a chance to be seen. They also have the top 100 blogs and other ways of finding blogs.

For readers, it is an advantage because you can find lots of new (to you) exciting blogs to be able to read and follow very easily. I think this is a win/win all around!

I just read a very powerful post by Staci Rose on the Holocaust and powerful responses. There is a moving remembrance in London happening … this month. Harry Potter’s glasses are involved. Staci wrote an incredible post about the Holocaust, survivors, and several fantastic resources. I strongly recommend you check out this post!!! Thank you, Staci!

We will get back to marketing .. there are just so many exciting things to write about!

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: Chris O’Byrne, online art marketing, rss feeds, Staci Rose, Holocaust, rssHuggers.com, OnlineArtsMarketing.com

You asked for more bubbles, so here is another one. To me this has a very different atmosphere from the others. To me, this has a very peaceful feeling .. and I still need some rest and rejuvenation from how hard I have been working lately. I would love to hear how you are doing!

Contemplation at Dusk, Digital © Diane Clancy

ACEOs are Art Cards Editions and Originals. They (also called ATC – Art Trading Cards) are 2.5 x 3.5″ big. (You can read about ACEOs here and here.) When I mentioned I was going to put some ACEOs in my Etsy Shop, you suggested that I make “bubbles” ACEOs. So I thought I would try something that Lisa Call has done – offer them for sale right on the blog.

In the Zone, ACEO Edition © Diane Clancy

If anyone wants to have this, it’s yours for $7 including shipping. It is titled and signed on the back. It is enclosed in an archival sleeve and then enclosed in a 3 x 4″ rigid topload card holder for safety and display. I had never heard of them until a month or so ago. And seeing all these little pictures I have printed out in archival inks and paper, I now understand why people do collect them.

I have tended to collect greeting cards of other artists’ work to have art to be inspired by at a reasonable price. But I now see the allure of all these pretty paintings, nice and small and all the same size. So I am a convert!

Technorati Tags: rejuvenation, ACEO, ATC, Lisa Call

I have seen Illustrator Friday mentioned around for awhile … and decided to check it out. This weeks challenge is “Grow.” This is my very first entry.

Grow, Digital © Diane Clancy

Life

It all starts with a seed

It expands outward

Life gets complex

There is beauty

There is difference

It is alive

Life is Us

We are Life

~ Diane Clancy

Technorati Tags: challenge, Illustrator Friday