“Art is not a thing; it is a way.” Elbert Hubbard

I’m so glad Maki chose to visit his dad the night he asked for him instead of waiting till the next day because Vernon wasn’t quite as alert on Thursday. In fact, it took a good half hour just to wake him up enough to go outside with me. I’m attributing his groggy state to the new antidepressant treatment that was only started that morning. As frail as he is, the side effects manifest very quickly. Hopefully, this will pass and his mood will be a little more stabilized. (I do get nervous adding any new medication, however.)

Anyway, the plan for Thursday was to get him painting again. When I’d suggested it the previous day, he seemed enthusiastic about it.  This time, I brought the paints I like to use at home, which are easier to manipulate than the trays of watercolor he’d previously used. Just like before, he had seemed to want to draw his environment—the table, the courtyard. There were more sitting figures—an expression of himself perhaps? Or maybe it’s me.

He still is able to access his ability to draw. Though the paintings are primitive, they are clearly made by someone with a knowledge of space and perspective. This time I saw more confidence with the the brush and his ability to manipulate the paint.

I think this is the palate dish we were using. See the little wells? Beneath it, I can recognize the woven design of the patio table (and perhaps a shadow.) 

This one is more intricate. The table shows up again in purple. It has two figures: one in purple in a chair (me) and the other in yellow, reclining. He covered that up with the green paint, which could possibly be the gate. He went on to draw the box of the courtyard around the figures, adding the trees popping over the wall and what looks to me like the palm tree by the entrance to the building.

In the one above, I see a bed next to a window with someone sitting on the end of it. I can imagine it’s a picture of his bedroom. Again, the perspective and themes are so interesting. This is his world so it’s what he is painting. I might set up a still life next time, but its fascinating to see what initially comes out of his mind.

He wasn’t talking at all for most of this time, but he was more committed to each page than I had seen him yet, so I took that as a good sign. Perhaps he was feeling the flow. He did take breaks, but he would still start up again with out giving up completely. When he first started painting with Julia in January, he was very specific about the colors and thoughtful about the placement of the brush.  This time, I just kept giving him full brushes of paint as soon as one started to dry up. He wasn’t bothered about the colors and didn’t seem to take much time between brush strokes. I could see the artist reemerging. In fact, in the next videos, one might think these are works of an abstract artist who has been at it for years. Absolutely fascinating.

(if you don’t have much time, skip number one and move to two…)

Then, the font designer showed up again…as well as a rainbow.