Fun with Fireworks!

I wanted to change things up a bit for the group today, 

so I gave them each a piece of black art paper 

and 6 colored pieces of chalk. 

Photos of FIREWORKS were offered for them to copy. 

I was thrilled that they all "lit up" and went to work right away!   

(Even the ones who usually don't participate!)

This was the happiest I've ever seen them!  

This woman did this out of her head! 

 

I love this! . 

 Kids? A house?

Not sure what it was about this project, 

but it made a connection of some kind, to every patient!  

The imaginations were running wild. 

And that just makes my day. 

Thank you Judith for all your help!     

Resistance at First

I haven't seen the patients for a while so I knew 

it was going to be tough to get back the momentum today. 

Today, I drew an outline of a head on the paper 

and then talked about "portraits". 

Most of them resisted the idea immediately.

The helpers and I had to "draw" in some shapes for them to color. 

Bill was then happy to paint his blue shirt. 

This gal got a big kick out of painting her "hair" red. 

Then she decided that it was a "he" and was one of the Red Sox.

She had a great time with this.  

Vinny had no interest in doing this, 

but when he left, he told me not to let anyone touch his painting. 

Lorraine chose to paint from one of the photos I brought 

(just in case). 

She has such a sensitive approach to painting. 

(She's the one who used to be a watercolorist)  

My wonderful helper Judy drew this for this patient, 

who then spent the whole hour painting it. 

In fact, she was upset that she 

couldn't finish the green shirt in time! 

I'm learning that with a little encouragement and prodding, 

just putting paint on the paper can be so enjoyable for them. 

I guess that is all I can hope for! 

Happy To Be Back!

I have been traveling a lot this month 

so I haven't seen my Alz Gals in three weeks! 

I arrived around 1:30 pm today (right after lunch) 

so most of them were nodding off in the TV room. 

As soon as they saw me, they just lit up!

 WHAT A TREAT!  

Sticking with simple subject matter (flowers) 

with images for them to look at,   

they were happy and got busy right away.

 The aids, and my wonderful assistant Judith, offered 

to draw outlines for them to color in.

This woman is a stickler for staying in the lines.
And she insists on mixing her own colors. 

 There are a pair of sisters in the group. 

They do everything together. 

The older one showed up today without the other one, 

and wouldn't start painting. 

One of the aids, a wonderful young man from Kenya,  

clued me in that she was waiting for her sister.  

His gentleness and devotion to these two woman was amazing. 

He sat with the two of them the whole time 

and coaxed them to do this beautiful work!  

The Older Sister

The Younger Sister 

This was done by the sisters' girl friend,

(I think she wishes she was a sister) 

This lovely woman told me there was no white paint,

 so she didn't put them in!

Priceless. 

I'm so happy to be back.