Last year I did NaBloPoMo in November, which is National Blog Posting month. I had done it in 2008, a few months after I started blogging, and that was more or less OK. Certainly, posting everyday for a month is a challenge, but I felt up to it two years ago. Last year, I jumped off the bridge or the building or the cliff or the edge of sanity or whatever the heck metaphor you want to use because I gave into peer pressure. Not that anyone was technically pressuring me to do it. I don’t have a logical explanation for what possessed me other than impulse and a desire to join the others. I was already posting less and suffering from a lack of inspiration prior to NaBloPoMo 2009, but I decided that making myself post more than I would even under ideal, inspired circumstances was a fabulous idea. OK, maybe not fabulous, but at least plausible. I dreaded blogging by the end of November though, and my plan to rediscover my blogging mojo by participating in NaBloPoMo backfired. Anyway, lesson learned, no more NaBloPoMo.

Until yesterday. you might have noticed a few people posting art in the DOC yesterday. It was Diabetes Art Day, and it was a phenomenal success. I’m actually still going through links, trying to see all of it, and if I haven’t gotten to yours, don’t be shy about sending me a little reminder. If I have an email that says, “Hey, I made art and it’s posted at www.lookatmyawesomeartproject.com!” then that helps. The Diabetes Art Day emails I’ve gotten thus far have been much appreciated, and very helpful.

Amongst the many emails I received yesterday about people’s contributions to Diabetes Art Day, Leighann at D-Mom Blog sent me an email telling me of this month’s theme for NaBloPoMo. In case you aren’t in the know, as I indicated, November is National Blog Posting Month, during which people all over the interwebz post everyday on whatever topic they fancy. NaBloPoMo occurs every month though, only there aren’t as many participants because it’s not the official month, and each month comes with a theme. I got this email from Leighann telling me that September’s theme was art. A pure cosmic anomaly, I promise you, but nonetheless, a tempting prospect. I already had September 1st covered… art-themed? Check. Can I do 29 more posts that are art-themed? I think I can as long as it’s more making and posting art than writing about it. Not that I can’t and won’t write some posts, but I’m going to use this as an excuse to get busy making more art over the next few weeks. Luckily, my art tends to be about diabetes in some way, so it will still settle nicely into the diabetes blog.

You might be arted out, but I have ideas coming out the wazoo after such an inspiring Diabetes Art Day, so stay tuned and check back because September is going to be a beautiful month at The Butter Compartment.

'Results' by Lee Ann

I’m thrilled that it’s finally here…Diabetes Art Day! I’ve seen quite a few early pieces over the last few days, and if that art is any indication, I expect to discover more art in the DOC today than I could have even hoped to see! I’m so grateful to all who are participating, more than I can explain. I’ve had tears in my eyes seeing what’s been posted thus far, reading accounts of people’s experiences making art, so many people who neither make a habit of art-making or consider themselves artists. This is truly what I live for.

It’s my hope that we will post art all over the DOC today, but I have created a permanent page, Diabetes Art Day 2010, that will contain the art that has been emailed to me, as well as links art posted in online communities and on blogs. I thought it would be nice to have a central location or directory of sorts. Regardless of whether or not you’ve posted elsewhere, if you want your art “hanging in the gallery”, please drop me an email, lee ann at thebuttercompartment dot com, and specifically tell me if I can post it.

This is the painting I created for Diabetes Art Day, It’s acrylic paint, Mod Podge, and test strips on paper. I rarely have a specific idea when I start making something, so it just kind of emerged once I started putting paint down. I knew I wanted to add test strips, so I dug to the bottom of my test strip bowl to get the good ones – the ones that don’t have the One Touch brand plastered all over them (I seriously hate them because they interrupt my art…). I poured the Mod Podge on, and now that I look at it, it reminds me of dark clouds, but the ModPodge is shimmery silver, so they’re like diabetes’ proverbial silver lining, which I always say is there if you look for it. I also had this idea that I wanted BG numbers, but after I painted the numbers, I decided I wanted them less obvious, so I poured acrylic gel medium, which is goo you add to change the consistency of paint, and worked that on the numbers to blur them some. This morning, now that I look at it, it reminds me of my old log books, the page corners turned up, the spine bulging from the pen that held it at the page I was using, blood smears and drops. I don’t keep a logbook anymore (come get me, Diabetes Police!), but I remember the ones I had as a kid, and wish I’d hung onto a few of them. In light of this association to my painting, I call it “Results”.

We’re getting down to the last few days before Diabetes Art Day with only five days left to get painting, drawing, computer-art-making, googly-eyes-gluing, or whatever ideas you’ve been brewing. I’ve already gotten a sneak peak at some early creations, and it’s got me in a tizzy of delight in anticipation of the DOC bursting with artsyfartsy goodness next Wednesday.

For those of you still wary, despite my words of encouragement and assurance that you need not have an artistic fiber in your body to participate, I have a wonderful incentive to offer thanks to the support of Diabetes Hands Foundation and TuDiabetes.

Everyone who participates and links back to me will be eligible to win a copy of No-Sugar Added Poetry! It might feel a little déjà-vu-ish since I gave out a couple of copies in a different art for poetry raffle last week, but just consider this No-Sugar Added Poetry Raffle: Part Deux, Electric-boogaloo. (Sorry, I know it’s a dated reference, but my 30- and 40-something readers will hopefully appreciate my corny sense of humor.)

Free at Walgreens, 'Diabetes & You'

Basically, there are five copies of the book, graciously donated by DHF to encourage participation in Diabetes Art Day. If you make art for Diabetes Art Day, add a link back to The Butter Compartment. I think chances are pretty good that I’ll come across your art anyway because I’ll be out and about looking for it, but the link is to help ensure that I see it so your name gets added to the raffle. I’m hoping the art will be so prolific that it’ll take a couple of days to gather all the names of the participants, but once I do that, I’ll randomly choose five names to receive No-Sugar Added Poetry!

More tidbits regarding Diabetes Art Day:

If you are a member of Diabetes Daily, David created a group, conveniently called, Diabetes Art Day. This is the place to display your work on DD, so click to join, and you’ll be good to go.

If you are a member of dLife, I created a group called Art of Diabetes. I made the group with the hope that people would use it year-round, but it is the ideal place to showcase your Diabetes Art Day work as a member of the dLife community.

I was in Walgreens today, and usually when I’m there, I try to grab a few of the free diabetes magazines they have in the pharmacy department because making collages is fun and easy, and even people who don’t like making art, or are otherwise anxious or intimidated by making art, seem to have fun making collages. If you’re interested in making a collage for Diabetes Art Day, I encourage you to head to your local Walgreens if there’s one close enough, and grab a few copies of this magazine. If you have scissors, clear tape or glue, and a piece of paper at home, you’ve got everything you need to make a fabulous Diabetes Art Day project!

In addition to diabetes trash, and magazines, if you’re looking for more materials you probably have right under your nose, try using nutrition labels and food packaging. Your kitchen is probably full of them, and nothing says life with diabetes like a collection of carb, calories, fat and sodium content. It’s not exactly a happy truth, but it’s part of life with D, so maybe you can convert it into an artistic statement.

And on that note, I hope you have a great weekend, that maybe includes a little art-making!

“The artist is not a different kind of person, but every person is a different kind of artist.” ~ Eric Gill

A few days ago, one of my Facebook connections, Art Is Moving, posted that quote, and whoa, did it ever resonate with me. Based on the comments and things I’ve read that people are saying about Diabetes Art Day, a lot of people don’t feel like they can make art. Maybe an art teacher raised her eyebrow and grimaced when you took liberties with her explicit instructions. Maybe your parents thought the Chinese take-out menu looked better on the refrigerator than your art. I think they just misunderstood your efforts, and by saying or doing or not saying or not doing something or other, they convinced you that you can’t make art.

I don’t know how else to say it. I’ve tried to convince anyone who will listen to me. Heck, singing and dancing aren’t my strengths, but I do them anyway because they’re fun, so if I have to do a clumsy dance and sing off-key to convince you that you can make art, don’t think I won’t do it because trust me, I most definitely will. If I could sit down with each of you, and challenge your belief that you aren’t capable or talented in your own way, you can bet I would. I think you’ve known me long enough to know that I’m forthcoming and honest, so I’m saying you can create art because I believe it. Now it’s up to you to believe it too.

So we’ve established that you’re just as capable as anyone of making art, but what if you’re fired up and ready to create something, but are feeling a little uncertain about how to get started?

First, it helps to have some art materials, and when I say art materials, I’m casting a wide net. Are there magazines in your house that you might otherwise discard? I’m a big fan of diabetes magazines for collages, so maybe you have some of those you can use. Surely you have some diabetes supplies – used test strips, test strip bottles, supply boxes, pump supply packaging. On Twitter today, I saw urine test strips mentioned by Kelly Rawlings who surely cherishes her memories of peeing on sticks as much as I do. I’m pretty sure the bottle of Keto-Stix in my bathroom that I keep only for a DKA emergency nowadays is past its expiration date, so I might have to give it a second life in some artwork. As you see, you don’t even need traditional art supplies as long as you have some clear tape or glue on hand to turn that diabetes trash and/or those magazines into something fantastic.

Perhaps you’re feeling like dabbling with some more traditional art materials though, and you happen to have some around your house, either yours or maybe they’re your kids’ supplies. Crayons, markers, colored pencils, pastels, maybe some kind of paint, watercolor or tempera. Don’t let anyone make you think that finger paint isn’t a valid medium to use; if you have some on hand, get some on your hands and express yourself! Perhaps you have some craft supplies: beads, fabric, yarn, colored or patterned paper… glitter. How about some Play-Doh? Any of it or all of it will work.

If you’re motivated enough to get some new art supplies, go for it! School supplies are on sale, so you can probably find some at a decent price. I’ve seen crayons, markers, colored pencils, glue sticks, etc. on sale at places like Target and different office supply stores recently. You can also go to the craft store. I know Michael’s and AC Moore have lines of supplies that are $5 a pack. Each pack has a certain material, i.e. colored pencils, oil pastels, watercolors (the kind in tubes), etc. Just as a tip if you are going to try colored pencils, I recommend picking up this pencil sharpener, or using a sharpener designed for eye or lip liner because regular pencil sharpeners tend to break colored pencil lead, which is softer than standard #2 pencils.

Whether you’re raiding you kids’ art supplies, have some old art supplies you’ve dug out, are using found objects and materials like magazines, or have decided to splurge on some new supplies, you might be sitting there with your materials, feeling unsure about how or where to start. If you’re feeling anxious or intimidated about getting started, let me remind you of a few things.

Most importantly, there is no wrong way to do it. It’s your art, your way, and if anyone suggests you’ve done it “wrong”, politely explain that you think they’re “wrong”.

If you “mess up”, you’re allowed to start over, but you can also go with the flow and decide that your “mess up” is really a “happy accident”. It’s all about frame of mind!

This is not a contest, and no one is being judged. Just like we can probably all benefit from judging ourselves less when we get an off-target BG reading, this is an opportunity to practice accepting your best effort for what it is.

It seems that often people judge whether or not art is good by how realistic it looks. Realism takes a phenomenal amount of training and ongoing practice, so unless you’ve had that training and you’ve been practicing, don’t expect that from yourself. If you want to depict something, do your impression of it, or do an abstraction. There’s something I commonly tell people when something they make doesn’t look “exactly like” whatever they’re trying to represent: “If you want an exact copy, take a photo.” The magic of art materials is that they allow you to make an image your own, and not a replica. Use that to your advantage!

You don’t need a specific plan or idea to get started. Normally, when I sit down to make art, my only intent is to lose myself in the process of creating something. Sometimes I end up with something that surprises me in a good way. Sometimes I end up with something I’m not so crazy about, but I can walk away from that with another idea. My point is, you don’t need to know what you want to make when you sit down to make it. Get some art supplies, start working, and see what happens. Start with the basics – lines, shapes, colors – and illustrate a feeling. You might end up with something you love, you might end up with something you aren’t thrilled with, but if you don’t get started, you’ll end up with nothing at all.

If you make something, and you don’t like it, it’s not a failure. Nor is it confirmation from the universe that you weren’t meant to make art. It’s a learning experience. If we mess up in life, we don’t just quit, right? If we forget to take a bolus and end up with skyrocketing BG’s, we don’t just decide we’ve failed at diabetes and toss our insulin in the garbage, right? If I gave up art-making the first time I made something that I thought was crap, my art-making career would have ended before I got to junior high. Making stuff you don’t like is part of the process of growing and developing as an artist and as a human, so if you make something you don’t like, guess what? You’re doing something right! Now, just clean your work space, take a deep breath, and keep going.

If you need inspiration, look at children’s art at Artsonia, an amazing site that I just love. If I ever change my mind about having kids, it’ll be because I want one to blanket my walls with art. Children make art with such admirable passion and energy. They want to tell you a story, and they want to have fun. Some people like to dismiss their artistic ability, saying they draw like a little kid, as if that was a bad thing! So if you don’t know where to start, don’t think about making a piece of art. Instead, think about telling a story about your diabetes. Even if you don’t think your art is worth sharing, I bet your story about diabetes is worth sharing, so tell it, but instead of using words, use art.

In case you need a little more inspiration:
Drawing Diabetes
Diabetes Supplies Art
Type 1 Diabetes Revealed
Diabetes Art on flickr
Diabetes Art At Justice’s Misbehaving Pancreas

In case you missed it, check out this post, Announcing Diabetes Art Day, or this one from last Monday, Diabetes Art Day: Where the Heck Do I Post My Art?

Maybe you’re intrigued, excited, or even skeptical about Diabetes Art Day, and not sure where to start or how to participate. This is the first post in which I’m going to offer some practical tips about making the most of Diabetes Art Day. A few people have asked for more specific information about where and how to post art on September 1st, so today, I want to offer some ideas.

What I envision for Diabetes Art Day is blanketing the DOC in art that we’ve created. As I said in my initial announcement about it, I want this to be a community effort. I hope that people who come looking at our blogs and various diabetes online communities on September 1st will find art about diabetes that says something to them in that a-picture-is-worth-a-thousand-words kind of way. Every photo of someone’s art multiplied by 1000 words is going to say a lot about diabetes!

First and foremost, you have to get a photo of it! I’m no expert, but my suggestion is to get a high resolution image that’s on the larger side. Making it smaller isn’t going to compromise the quality of the image, whereas, making a small image bigger probably will. More recent phones take pictures that are quite good, so you need not have a fancy-schmancy camera to get a decent photo, but by all means, if you have a fancy-schmancy camera, use it. I suggest taking several pictures, and if you’ve created something 3-D, you’ll want to do it from different angles. I also recommend natural light if you can manage that, but not direct sunlight. When you’re done, upload them to your computer, and choose the one that’s clearest with the most favorable lighting.

Once you have a picture, if you have a blog, I would say make the photo of your art your post on Wednesday September 1st. If you want to say anything about it, that’s up to you. If you want to let the art “speak” to your readers, don’t feel obligated to add a lot of additional text. That’s a very personal decision, regardless of where the art is posted. I very much want this to be for anyone and everyone who wants to participate, not just bloggers though. So for anyone who doesn’t have a blog, there are a bunch of other options.

There are umpteen diabetes online communities, and I’d love to see a little Diabetes Art Day splash in each of them, so between me, you and everyone else, maybe we can spread the art into all of them. In support of Diabetes Art Day, TuDiabetes has added a page where members can post their art. If you are a member of TuDiabetes, and want to participate in Diabetes Art Day, visit Express Your Diabetes, and add your art as a comment. To help spread the word and generate interest on the site, you can even add Express Your Diabetes as a friend because the page is set up as a profile. Also, there is talk of raffling a few more No-Sugar Added Poetry books to those who participate, so if you’re still on the fence about checking into some oil pastels, mayhaps that will serve as some incentive.

If you are a member of the dLife Community, I have created a group there called Art of Diabetes. The group isn’t specifically for Diabetes Art Day because I’d love to see art posted there year-round, but it’s another option if you’re looking for a place to display your work.* I’ve also created a thread on Diabetes Daily, Diabetes Art Day – September 1st, so if you’re a member of the DD community, you can participate there too.

If you are a member of a different community, my suggestion is to create a discussion thread in your community of choice for people to post their art. Title it “Announcing Diabetes Art Day”, or “Diabetes Art Day, September 1st”, or something else really obvious like that. Post a link to this post, the post announcing Diabetes Art Day, the TuDiabetes Express Your Diabetes page, or one of the many posts that others have written about Diabetes Art Day. The point of the link is to allow other community members to get more information if they need it. The links are also important because then people know who’s participating and where to see art that day. Use the Diabetes Art Day badge (like the one in this post or in my sidebar) if you wish, and encourage participation in that community. Once that’s done, the only thing left to do is post your own art on September 1st, and encourage others to follow.

Another option is to email me the photograph of your art, and I’ll post it here at The Butter Compartment on September 1st. If you do this, I need to receive it by noon EDT on August 31st at the very latest. Please send a high resolution photograph that is at least 500 pixels wide. Tell me what information you’d like me to post. You can include as much as or little of the following, in quotes please : name of the artist, their age, type of diabetes, age at diagnosis, the title of your art if you have one (or it can be “Untitled”), and/or materials used to create it. If you don’t have diabetes, let me know what your relationship to diabetes is – your kid has it, your spouse has it, you’re a health care provider, etc. If you’d like to add a sentence or two about the art, feel free, also in quotes please, so I understand you want it added to the post. I don’t like to just post stuff on the interwebz unless I clearly know you’re cool with it. Please keep in mind that I might have a number of pieces to post, so I would like to keep it to only a line or two of added text. Email me at leeann at thebuttercompartment dot com, again, by noon EST on August 31st.

I think we should use Diabetes Art Day to raise awareness about diabetes outside of the diabetes community too though, and in order to accomplish that, we have to turn to sites that aren’t specific to diabetes. There are too many social networking sites to list, so I’ll mention the biggies. One idea I had was to make your artistic creation your Facebook profile picture for the day. You can also post it as a regular status update. If you administer a fan page of some kind for your blog or organization on Facebook, you can post it there as a status update too. For Twitter, you can also make it profile picture. You can use if you like, or just tweet a link to wherever you’ve posted it.