how it started.

Thursday 19th Feb

Brad the artist. 

 

Brad was diagnosed with Mild Cognitive Impairment due to Alzheimer’s in 2024.  The first year was so stressful and scary.  We tried everything to keep busy and keep him mind off the ”What Ifs”  We tried memory games, puzzles, dancing, Making Clay figures, and going out to hear music.  Nothing was working to calm his anxious mind. 

We bought a paint-by numbers kit.  He gave it a try and liked it, but he was having trouble with the tiny numbers, and many of the colors were so similar that it was hard for him to keep them straight. 

 

I was telling Donna Grauel about it.  She is an artist and a retired art teacher.  She said, “I will draw him a paint-by-numbers bigger, with no numbers,  and he can use any color he wants.”  We picked up some canvases, and Donna drew flowers on one, a dog on another and a profile Face on the third. 

 

What happened next surprised all of us.  Brad didn’t just fill in the spaces  - He transformed Donna’s art into his own.  The profile face became so abstract that he even turned it to face forward.  Donna was so tickled each time I showed her what Brad had done.  She would draw another canvas and say, I can’t wait to see what he does with this one.

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Now Brad still loves when Donna creates a drawing for him.  But he also seeks out what he wants to draw.  Sometimes he asks for help sketching out his vision, but in the same pattern, it always becomes something completely different from the original drawing.

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Thursday 19th Feb

These works of art, created by an individual living with Alzheimer’s,  illuminate a world  where imagination persists beyond diagnosis. 

 

We are offering this book as a gift of hope and awareness. 

 

Please consider a suggested donation to the Alzheimer’s Association by scanning the QR Code Below in support of families and ongoing research. 

 

Donation are made directly to the Alzheimer’s Association.

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