Posts Tagged ‘Art and Alzheimers’

“I’ve been waiting for you.” David said. “I have a picture in my mind and I have to paint it before I forget.”
I had brought a large piece of cardboard with acrylics. He was accustomed to a small piece of watercolor paper and watercolors. 8 1/2 x 11 was usually not big enough for him. He sat right down and painted “outer space” with a flourish. I have found that Alzheimer’s patients who enjoy painting create straight from their souls. I am careful not to give input because I don’t want to ruin the fresh expression!

Sonda is not able to put words together because of Alzheimer’s, but she loves to sing, especially beautiful trills that sound like opera. One day, I handed her a paintbrush. She dipped it in the blue and started humming high notes, low notes, and in-between. She was simultaneoulsy moving her brush in circles to the notes. She was immersed in the arts and very happy.

A warm and windy day in September was drawing everyone outside. We gathered in a “wheelchair circle”. I placed a large piece of paper on the cement patio. We got it wet and let the wind and the water take the paint in unpredictable directions. When it dried, we looked at it from all directions and saw a Christmas tree emerging. As we splashed more branches in, dabbed dots of paint, and added more color, we discovered the fun of working as a group and seeing the results. We decided it was good enough to put on the wall….Christmas in September!

I picked up a sack of discarded clothing at Goodwill , cut it into small pieces and filled a box with brilliant textures and color. I got many questioning looks in the Alzheimer’s Unit. “What do I do?” was the question. I realized I needed to narrow down to one or two pieces of material. I picked one up.”This looks like material from a man’s tie. What do you think?” This made room for more conversation about favorite colors and jobs that men had where a tie was required. There were silky pieces and pieces from jeans, and also sparkly; each one spurring conversation. As we talked about them, they watched me place them in a design in the middle of the table. They were fascinated with the visual stimulation as we relaxed and socialized.

Doris is in the habit of quietly sitting in front of an empty page of watercolor paper for up to an hour before she picks up the brush. I am aware that the creative juices are being stirred. Without fanfare, she starts painting and a landscape emerges in a very short time. Each landscape is a different color hue. “This is a fallen tree at dusk” she said. I held it up in front of her and asked if she was happy with it. She nodded her head and said that the trunk needed to be wider. She fell asleep before she could finish. The picture is still very charming. The painting pictured below is a tree that she painted very quickly all in blue.