I go frequently to a facility that has a good mixture of men and women. I find it interesting that the ones who clamor to paint are men. We decided to call in Men’s Club. They gather and paint…and even allow the women to come and watch. As they paint together, they socially bond as they come alive to the arts. Notice that one gentleman is painting a portrait of the other.
David was a newspaper photographer for most of his life. He is now has dementia and is also stuck using a wheelchair in a nursing home with dementia. We were painting on large pieces of cardboard with large brushes in one of our sessions. He painted a stormy sky with blues and grays. He stated he was finished, but then took a brush, dipped it in yellow paint and stroked in a lightening bolt. The surprise was that the lightning bolt turned green as soon as it went on top of the blue. He didn’t seem to be troubled by it. He turned it into a green cactus in the storm and when it dried, he painted pink flowers on it. He titled it “A Flowering Cactus in the Storm”
