Monthly Archives: March 2007

Freckles in Flowers I

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My “Enhanced Animal Images” are another kind of digital painting that I create. This particular image is of my beloved kitty companion of 18 years – who merged with the universal life force over 10 years ago. My 90+ year old aunt, that I have mentioned before, took this photograph years ago (in black and white). One day I decided to put Freckles into a field of flowers …

Freckles in Flowers I

Freckles in Flowers I, Digital © Diane Clancy

I scanned the photo of Freckles into the computer so I could work digitally. Then I enhanced this image with layering as I did with some of the other digital images. The computer program Painter has a great feature called “image hose” and “nozzles.” One can load up a type of digital brush with images and then paint with the images. I have many layers so that I can non-destructively make changes and try different things out.

From trial and error, I have learned to have an individual layer for each kind of flower, grass or butterfly in general. Usually, I flip back and forth between Painter and Photoshop. Painter has these nozzles and other great features but I find Photoshop is easier to work in with layers. Again, the order of the layers make an incredible difference in the final painting.

Another great advantage with the layering of these enhanced animal images is that I can slip in another animal. Once I have a file (very large) with a neutral background (from my aunt’s first picture), then I can “cut” out another animal and slip them into the flowers. Of course, this can take hours even though it sounds easy!

– Diane Clancy

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Emanate II

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This image has me going in several different directions at once. Sometimes it looks very cosmic to me with vision or an eye in the center, with cosmic rays radiating out. Other times it seems to be an icon for modern culture – somewhat garish and not quite on target. Either way to me it does look like a mandala – not like Sue O’Kieffe’s mandalas – but one nevertheless.

Emanate II

Emanate II, Digital © Diane Clancy

This is a digital painting that I made with Studio Artist. Sue has asked in a comment about this program and how it differs from Photoshop. When I am less tired, I will explain some of the differences. If you look at “Conundrum I” in “2 Collages With a Quilting Influence,” and then look at “Emanate II” again, you may be able to see some resemblance.

In this creative process I was playing with Studio Artist to understand how it works and I used “Conundrum I” as a base image to play with. Hint: with Studio Artist, you always start with opening a “source image.” You don’t have to use it – but you need to have it. When I look at “Emanate II,” I see “Conundrum I” very strongly – having spent dozens of hours creating “Conundrum I,” I know many of the scraps of quilting fabric quite well!

Let me know what you think. Do you see “Conundrum I’? Do you see an icon or a mandala? Or what else do you think?

– Diane Clancy

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Nature Reflections I

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I’ve always enjoyed the colors blue and yellow together – ever since I was a child. There is some way my eye goes back and forth, back and forth between a bright blue and a bright yellow. Many people have been drawn to this particular digital painting – from my aunt who was over 90 to young children. The birds, representing nature, are part of what I think draws people into this picture. Also, this image is at the border between realism and abstraction – where I think much interesting transformation happens.

Nature Reflections I

Nature Reflections I, Digital © Diane Clancy

I created this image using Studio Artist, a very unusual art program. I started with a beautiful photograph of several birds and then digitally transformed the picture. I think many people are drawn by the fact that they can see birds – but often they keep looking trying to understand what is going on.

As with much of my own creative process, I can never quite reproduce what happens by accident. I do much better when I am aligned with my muse and allow the flow to happen than when I try too hard to “make” things happen. Of course, technical skills are still crucial – but, for me, the greatest reward comes when I feel in the flow. I wish for us all to be able to live in that flow.

– Diane Clancy

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Dance of Life

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A fine artist, Sue O’Kieffe of Sacred Circle Mandalas who creates nature mandalas, posted a comment yesterday in my Heart of Fire post. Her comment inspired me to write “I think of this “hard edge” painting as painting with “sheets of light.” That is part of what is going through my mind when I am painting … Just applying “sheets of light” to the canvas. Sheet after sheet after sheet …” I am again taken by this imagery of sheets of light as I meditate with this “Dance of Life.” This idea is important enough that I am sharing this metaphor in the beginning of this post.

Dance of Life

Dance of Life, Acrylic © Diane Clancy

“Dance of Life” is also from the “Luminous Angles” series. Again, the light comes from behind the canvas. I think this sense of the light coming from behind is part of why, as I paint, I alternate between applying sheets of light and creating stain glass windows. These are images and ideas that flow through my mind as I paint with this type of technique.

For more detail about the technique, you can look at the “Heart of Fire” post mentioned above. That post builds on the information in the earlier “Freedom” post which will reveal more information about this particular technique.

– Diane Clancy

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Heart of Fire

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Life’s magic often happens in unplanned ways. My job as an artist is to be open to the possibilites, to see and to follow-up on opportunity. I like the way the light comes from behind the image, “Heart of Fire,” – my eyes keep being drawn in. I think the quality of light is very similar to Susan Elkin’s “Tunnel I” which is featured on Susan Elkin’s Blog today. The vibrancy and mystery of the light from under the tunnel is related to the ambiguity of radiance in this image in Susan Elkin’s Blog.

Heart of Fire

Heart of Fire, Acrylic © Diane Clancy

“Heart of Fire” is another painting from my “Luminous Angles” series – the hard edge painting (acrylic) I refer to in Freedom – Code Almost There. In the “Freedom” painting, the lines were predominately straight. I ripped the masking tape, put it on the canvas then paint with acrylic paint thinned by some kind of gel medium – which makes the layer of paint transluscent.

In this painting, you can see that the black shapes are not sraight lines at all. So you can take masking tape and bend it as you are putting it on the canvas. This gives you more options for creating different shapes. These are the technical details.

But something else happens in the creation – a kind of magic that is beyond my control. I feel like the channel for what is happening, not the creator. This creative process is so exciting!

Please consider commenting so I know you are reading this and relating to what I say. Thank you!

– Diane Clancy

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The Light Within

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The “Light Within” is the name of this digital painting. Each day I need to nourish that light within as I dance my way through life – balancing maintenance and creativity. Today I have gotten the code on this blog as well as I can for now. Please let me know if you have any problems with this blog.

Light Within

Light Within, Digital © Diane Clancy

This frees me up to get back to other work. That light within is so important whether it is attention to close technical details or playing with paint spontaneously or figuring out what isn’t working with a painting or de-cluttering. In all these pursuits I must – to the best of my ability at the moment – align with and support that light within.

This image is made with KPT filters in Photoshop. There are several dozen layers in this image. (See the post – Creating “Inside and Out” – if you want more details on this layering process.) It often took an hour or more for each layer. So, you can see, an invloved process.

But fun! Changing the order of the layers, changes the look. Again, see the post listed above for more details. I put a black background to have the light vibrate. These layers of “light” look very different when there is a different color behind them.

My light within feels very nourished knowing that at least one person is reading what I am writing, looking at the images and following my creative process. I feel very blessed by my connections with those I have met.

– Diane Clancy

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Freedom – Code Almost There

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(Warning: I overused, by far, the world “many” tonight.) Another day of getting things in order with this new blog – but that is OK. Because it is close to where I want it. The people in the WordPress (the software that runs this blog) community are so generous. As are so many, many people on the web! 8 days ago I never even heard of WordPress and certainly never did anything with a blog.

Freedom

Freedom, Acrylic © Diane Clancy

I am constantly impressed how often help is there from unknown people who are on the web. They take time to look at my problems (and others) and give their advice. Of course, I do that for different people and groups in my life – but it is always so gratifying to see so many people make the time and effort – and seem to enjoy it! It is uplifting so see so much good in so many people when the world is full of contrary examples.

This painting is part of a series I have done with acrylics in hard edge painting style. It is many, many layers on top of each other. Most of the layers are thinned with some kind of transparent medium to make the acrylic more translucent so one can see the multiple layers below. There are many different kind of gel mediums for different effects.

The hard edge part is taking a straight edge – like masking tape – and gently but firmly – putting it on the canvas on each side of the area I want to paint. Then painting that area with the thin acrylic paint. Take off the tape fairly soon. You can see that the layer you put down shouldn’t be too runny so it doesn’t go below the tape – unless you want a softer edge.

Take the tape off soon so it doesn’t stick to the canvas and wreck your painting. I have been meaning to get back to painting like this again. Maybe now that the site is more finished, I can get the studio together again. You may remember I pulled it apart for weatherizing 2 weeks ago.

Looking at “Freedom” tonight, I am entralled with the sense of movement – especially of movement upward. I can see why I named it “Freedom.” I go deeply into the picture and keep moving from one plane and place to another. I enjoy going inside it and feeling the results of my creative process. Enjoy Spring – or Fall – depending on where you are!

– Diane Clancy

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Creating Inside and Out

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Today has been a day of loose ends. I have been completing several projects and trying to figure out how to put a calendar into this page without dominating the blog. But I did get outside and take my walk.

Inside and Out

Inside and Out, Pastel © Diane Clancy

I was just going to share the above, but then I realized this is too good an opportunity to miss for talking about the creation of this image. I can tell a whole lot of people at once – if I am lucky!

I painted this while I was in school. Our teacher, Michael Coblyn, had us go into a dark room with our pastels, a slide projector and a model. Michael Coblyn shined a slide on the wall with the model standing in front. In the dark we had 2 – 3 minuters to paint with pastel.

Then he flashed a second slide on the model for 2 – 3 minutes. We went back and forth between the 2 slides many times. We had to pick and choose between the different views we saw with the 2 slides to create one coherent image.

Since then I have been meaning to try the technique using a 3D computer model and figuring out how to shine slides onto the 3D model. But it hasn’t reached the top of the list yet … will it ever?

But, in the meantime, I am delighted to have this image. Thank you for looking at it with me and learimg about my creative process.

– Diane Clancy

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Creativity – Balance of Play and Persistence

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When I took my walk today (determined to keep exercise important and not let it go to the bottom of priorities), I was wondering what to write about. What kept coming to mind is balancing play and rest, pushing and being in the flow. Balancing surging ahead and tackling things vs being at ease and focusing on what comes up. It seems to me that creativity is a combination of all of these.

Inner Flow VI

Inner Flow VI, Digital © Diane Clancy

It is actually comforting to me that some genius-type people have said that creativity is 99% perspiration and 1% inspiration. I know I am capable of hard, consistent work. I feel less certain that I am a creative person – but I do have a lot of trust in the creative process.

Today has been a day of balancing creativity with lots of detail maintenance work. I have been focusing on the blog all week – learning a lot and enjoying that process. But a lot of details fell by the wayside. I have been working at balance.

This digital painting was created as I was playing – learning how to use some plug-ins for Photoshop (KPT filters). Often I create some of my cool (according to some) images as I am just playing around and letting myself just focus on learning. You see, I do like to learn. It is fun to just try to figure out how things work.

Whether it is a computer program or how someone’s mind ticks, I like to understand the world. So I was just trying to figure out how the filters work and I kept adding layer after layer. Some of my images made from these filters have over 50 layers.

Heart of Light I

Heart of Light I, Digital © Diane Clancy

This is a digital image with at least 50 leayers. Each layer is just a little wispy swirl of light. Just layer upon layer, upong layer. It took many, many hours to create! To me each of these two images are filled with light – but the quality of light is so different in each of them.

Layers in a computer program are like a sheet of clear plastic. If you make a drawing on one layer, and then make a drawing on another layer, and put them together, you can see the images together since the plastic is clear. Layers in programs are like that.

And another neat thing about computer layering is that you can take out any given layer when you want. Layers give me lots of ability to put images together and try things out in a “non-destructive” way. That is, you can try an image with or without a certain part of the image to see what works best. (To me, it is much easier than a pencil and eraser. Though with a pencil you can do things you can’t on a computer!) Finally (for now), you can change the order of layers … sometimes things will look different depending on which image is on top of another image.

Thank you for going on this journey with me exploring creativity and making a side trip into technical details!

– Diane Clancy

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2 Collages With a Quilting Influence

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I love to work with color. Quilting was fun when I was younger because it was (in certain types of quilting) creating designs of color in a structured way. I didn’t have to draw anything, but could still create. And I am so taken with all the different kinds of fabric – especially quilting fabric – that I was delighted for the excuse to buy quarter yards.

Conundrum I

Conundrum I, Collage © Diane Clancy

In my younger days, before I realized how longingly I wanted to be an artist and create art, I “allowed” myself to quilt. Because quilts are (were considered back then) “functional” art, it was within the code of acceptabilty in my family.

Aniticipation

Anticipation, Collage © Diane Clancy

Once I “fell” into creating art on paper and was encouraged to call myself an “artist”, I still loved the different fabrics that available – especially the quilting fabrics. When I could also paint, I didn’t want to sew as much. So I started putting paint, paper and fabric together to create “Quilts on Paper.”

Today I was inspired to write this after visiting Lisa Call’s site showcasing her Comtemporary Quilts. I was very nostalgic for quilting reading her site. Lisa’s blog is very beautiful also. Her work is inspiring me to stretch my own creative process.

Thank you for reading about my journey,

– Diane Clancy

[tags]goddess, double face[/tag]

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The Look for Now

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Just to let you know … I am happy with the “look” for now. I am excited by what I have learned the past few days about blog code and such. Each time I get into new territory with things, I get so frustrated and impatient because I don’t know the vocabulary and how to make things do what I want. But I love the feeling as things start to come together! This, again, is very related for me to the creative process of painting and making art. Life and art, art and life. So related! Tomorrow I will put up an image of some of my work so you can see what I am talking about. – Diane Clancy Technorati Tags: creative process

Knowing When to Change Course

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After all the work I did yesterday to make a different “look” have the functions of this “look”, I say the way the blog looked on a different computer and didn’t like it. So now I am wanting to add a few things to this original “look” to make it more like yesterday’s …. I don’t always know when to keep pushing ahead and when to let go. But I did learn a lot yesterday (more than I ever wanted to about certain things. But in all that fooling around, I did learn much more what I want and what is important to me – about the blog anyway. Now some things that became essential yesterday, I have to try to figure out how to do on this “look” today – like how to help you get back to the main page from anywhere! Off to work now … I hope I can make your viewing pleasure (hopefully pleasure) more enjoyable. This is a lot like painting in going one direction and then another direction – hopefully making progess in the meantime. For me, remembering to keep my balance is important. Thank you for reading! – Diane Clancy Technorati Tags: balance

Hi on Day 2 of this Blog

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Hi Fellow Journeyers – I have spent the day working to tweak this blog to what I think it compatible for me and my work. As an artist, I tend to want things to “feel right” inside me. To make my gut feel soothed, not agitated. It is one of the tools I use when I am painting – is this stroke soothing and uplifting me or irritating me? It is the same creative process – for me – working on getting this blog squared away. So close and yet so far. Technical jargon here – I have the front page pretty much as I want it. The person who was good enough to make this basic look left out some details I wanted. Another version had those details. So I have spent the day tweaking one little thing and seeing the effect – trying to get it all put together. The archive pages now have headers, but the archive part of the page is no longer integrated with the rest of the page. I am stumped for the moment. But I wanted to share with you my creation process since it reflects my painting process. – Diane Clancy Technorati Tags: artist, creative process

Hello, World!

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Hi World, Hi Fellow Travelers, Today I have set up this blog and I am very excited to begin to talk with you through this medium. I am hoping that we can discuss together some ideas of improving and exciting our lives, and, in this creative process, enhance our spirits. I am putting this first post in several categories to activate them so you can see what ideas I would like to toss around with you. I am an artist, a painter and also a graphic designer and web designer. I love to learn new things (like how to blog and install this software). Also I have spent much of my life working to create a better world. I enjoy computers and also love to get into painting with traditional mediums (like paint and pastels). My slogan for Diane Clancy’s Art is “Enhance Your Spirit.” I would like to talk together to have fun and connect with each other in useful ways. Thank you for listening! – Diane Clancy Technorati Tags: creative process, artist … [CLICK TO READ MORE]

About Diane

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Diane Clancy creates vibrant paintings that feature color and vision to inspire and uplift people. Says Diane, “I feel that I am very blessed to have this opportunity to express myself through painting. I love that people say my artwork enhances their lives.” Diane Clancy is also a graphic designer and web designer who enjoys working closely with clients. Diane is gifted in understanding clients’ needs, and, as a painter, she brings an artistic eye to projects. Diane Clancy works closely with photographer, Susan Elkin. This is an exciting and unusual combination of a designer/photographer team and they specialize in closely with their clients. Diane has a website, Diane Clancy’s Art, where you can see much of work. … [CLICK TO READ MORE]