So this is ME !

A drawing event as part of The Big Draw http://www.thebigdraw.org/the-big-draw in Brecon on Saturday October 22nd yielded 167 images responding to the exclamation This is ME ! an event  organised with support from Brecon Area Dementia Friendly Community.

It was a joyous day and one that gave pause for thought.

One visitor came in and announced that he had ‘only come to offer a donation’, however he was eventually encouraged to make an image. The incident left me considering what it is we actually value especially after creating an event in Bristol  http://www.thebigdraw.org/event/Draw_what_you_value/7175 where users of Aldi in North Street where asked to draw what they valued on the store windows.

and what we value

Drawing offers me a different dimension for communication, a chance to meet others in a different place to that of the world of words, at the Aldi event I found myself realising that  the freedom to draw is one of the most important things in my life, an activity that always teaches me something…………….

I imagine that we all think that what we are trying to say, explain, describe to those we meet is crystal clear.

I make assumptions as I formulate the words and fail to realise that I have left out the whole of my life’s experience of the subject. Obviously time is a factor, no one is going to wait around to hear the minute details of a description so a shorthand version needs to be presented.

Sometimes I feel so desperately in need of communicating, then I remember why I draw.

‘a picture is worth a thousand words’

Whatever the origin of this idiom for some people it is a fundamental way of navigating the world however when I work with different people I realise that images too can very quickly mislead and that not everyone can easily ‘read’ a drawing.

I read a letter to New Scientist about memory, identity and Alzeimhers that started me wondering. Then, as a result of a  conversation with a friend she offered me this https://aeon.co/essays/if-your-memory-fails-are-you-still-the-same-person

Food for thought

strawberries seem so special but modern ( young) taste and texture sensation seem to mediate whether or not they re chosen fruit

it was bananas yesterday!

a bit like chocolate biscuits

I don’t like Jaffa cakes but Gil ( my partner) does

Interesting our individual differences

What colour is the smell of fresh bread?

Where does the smell take us? and then the taste

A literal image, a symbolic image of memory and feelings and the the feelings start a story.

Colour and fresh bread bread

Intensity, fullness neither of these but something expressed in a choice of colour.

Or just the joy of a wayward paintbrush!