Back Together

I haven't been able to meet with the patients for over three weeks

 so I was a little nervous about today.
We had a big group and they all seemed happy to be back at it.

 Judith brought individual small vases of flowers from her garden for each of them to paint. 

It was the first time we tried painting something "from life"
(with nothing for them to copy)  

so we were prepared to draw in the big shapes for them to color in.

They are all SO concerned with staying in the lines! 

(They call it "a mess" if they go outside them.) 

Then there are those who prefer to do their own.

Lorraine is the watercolorist who just loves this class.

I asked what the dark mark was on the right.

She told me it was books on the shelf! 

Of course!

I now come prepared for "guy projects" because

they certainly don't want to paint flowers! 

Russ, reluctant at first, got engaged in this for the whole hour.

(Then told his wife and daughter to put it in a frame!)

 I've come to realize how important this is, 

for the patients and me,

 on so many levels.

I know they look forward to it 

 and they seem to lose themselves in what they are doing. 

It's thrilling to watch and encouraging to see the results!  

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.   

Tropical Theme Day

This is Nursing Home Week and today the theme was tropical/Caribbean,

so I was asked to do a project related to that. 

When I arrived, there was a steel band playing in the Garden Room 

and the staff were all wearing bright colored outfits! 

I met with my group up on their floor, which by comparison, 

was rather quiet.

I showed them lots of images of tropical fish 

and we talked about their varying shapes and how they move.

I've found that most of them need outlines of shapes to get them going. 

Otherwise they get lost and are frustrated. 

This woman made fun of her ability as an "artist" 

and was clearly uncomfortable about doing this. 

She brightened though, when she added the red tail! 

Josephine just got quietly busy.

I told her I imagined she always did her homework 

when she was in high school.

She said, "Of Course I did! And always on time too!" 

I knew I didn't need to draw any shapes for Lorraine,
the former watercolorist.
Her soft and lovely brushstrokes come so naturally to her.
She gets so much enjoyment out of doing this, it just makes my day. 

 I am blessed to have the most wonderful assistant
and fellow volunteer, Judy Schroeter. 

A resident from Independent Living,
she adds so much to this whole experience. 

Her warm and gentle way of helping these woman is amazing. 

I love that I have someone to share my ideas and thoughts with! 

Thank you so much Judy!  

  

We've both come to realize that 

what we do with these folks isn't important.

It's just spending the time with them that matters. 

Out of Sorts

I was told there had been a lot of room changes on the floor 

this morning so the girls were all a bit "out of sorts." 

Thank goodness I'd planned a very "comforting" project for today.

I'd found an article in an American Artist Magazine featuring 

beautiful colorful landscapes by artist Mary Sipp-Green. 

I color xeroxed small images of her paintings for them to look at, 

then outlined the simple shapes in black marker for them. 

All they had to do was color them in any way they wanted.  

This gal calmed right down and got to work 

 

Same picture, different interpretation

Marie told me she was too tired today and didn't want to paint.
Although, once she got started on this, she couldn't stop.
Notice how careful she was to stay in the lines. 

Millie has a some vision problems but she managed this all by  herself.
I love what she did with the "sun" 

  There are four "A" behaviors that Alzheimer patients exhibit.

Anxiousness. Agitation. Aggression. Apathy.

It was heartwarming to watch how "creating" something

helped them calm down and cope a little better, 

even if just for an hour.

Learning as I Go!

I tried something completely different today and learned a lot of "don'ts"! Up to this point, I've only had them paint with watercolors on paper, while "copying"an image from a postcard. (Landscapes, still lives, trees) Today, I gave them each a 6 x 9 piece of white bristol board, various colored construction paper, and glue sticks. The idea was to have them the tear the paper into odd shapes, then glue them on the paper in a pattern or picture to express the idea of spring. It didn't turn out as planned.  

Without a reference to kick them off, they were stymied as to where to start. 

And, the concept of putting odd shapes together to "say" something 

is way too abstract for them 

There was a lot of:

"If my kids saw this, they'd think there was something wrong with me!"

"Why aren't we painting?"

"Now What Do I Do?" 

"Please put this in the trash"

This eager and happy patient, did this all by herself. 

This is what I had hoped would happen!  

I should have given them pictures of gardens! 

This woman hated the "tearing" so much she asked for scissors 

and then came up with this. 

Then she loved it.

Don, who is not a resident there, came in with his wife to sit with her. 

He held her hand and talked to her the whole time 

She was happy to just sit there and watch.  

He made this for her then wrote, 

 "For Ro" above his name. 

LESSONS LEARNED:

Stay with familiar materials.

Give them an idea or an image for direction. 

Stay with concrete identifiable subject matter. 

Don't give them too many options.

Glue sticks are not a good idea 

Also; I'm afraid some of them thought this was a project 

more suited for children and that may have offended them. 

I didn't think of that.  

Thank you to ALL the helpers and volunteers today! 

I needed you!