Mum's Artwork

Mydarlingdaughter

Registered User
Oct 25, 2019
205
0
North East England UK
Hi,
Mum has been in a lovely care home receiving nursing care for nearly a year now after a long journey with hospital admissions and mixed type dementia. She responds to prompts about her past but short term memory has gone. She is unable to walk or do anything for herself.
Mum has an independent mental health advocate and a social worker.
I am trying to sort out some of her personal belongings from her house, to take to the home, which I think she would like.
Her house is not very clean and is and smelly as she was a smoker and was not able to look after her home the last few years she was living there. There is no power in the home as bills weren't paid and the he utilities were disconnected.
At the moment I am waiting to hear about another family members decision to apply to Court of Protection as I am unable to get involved with it due to my own illness and disability. I have had some very dark times over the past years trying to get help for Mum after her hospital admissions and my GP asked me to limit involvement for the sake of my own health. I am letting social worker, independent mental health advocate ad other family member deal with it.
I'm not looking for advice on this topic at all, I would not want any comments on this, its just the background and info.

So far I have been able to find all Mum's indoor clothes, which are now in the home, also toiletries, pictures, photos and some other personal items.
Care home has said Mum would benefit from more photos and pictures, as she really enjoys looking at them, however the room is fairly small and no romo for much else.

On the latest salvage hunt to Mum's house, I found a collection of fairly good drawings and paintings she did during an art course in the early 21sr century. I took a few of them in to show her and she was amazed and slightly disbelieving that she could have done them. She didnt recognise her own work at all.
One of them was already framed.
My question to you, my fellow dementia journeymen and women, what would you do with the rest? I thought of taking them in and just leaving them with her, framing the rest to give to the care home, or just hanging on to them until she passes away?
 

canary

Registered User
Feb 25, 2014
25,018
0
South coast
I think I would hang onto them if it were me.
My mum passed away 2 years ago and something like that would have huge emotional significance for me now.
I doubt that they would have much in the way of monetary value, so would probably not count for the CoP deputy accounts (I was CoP deputy for mum, so I know what is required). I think your mum is unlikely to appreciate them if she doesnt recognise them as her own work and she does have a couple of pieces in her room and I think that if you get rid of them, or give them away, you will regret it later.
 

Ray96

Registered User
Sep 29, 2018
87
0
I have several of my mothers paintings that she did as therapy in the early/mid stages of dementia, and she always thought that she was rubbish, I mean they are no works of art by any means but have something special about them that I cherish now that mum has passed.
 

Mydarlingdaughter

Registered User
Oct 25, 2019
205
0
North East England UK
As well as the artwork I also found a short story Mum had written.
I have been decluttering Mum's house and taken 2 boxes of stuff back to my flat to sort through.

Mum has always ben a very private person even coming across as cold and aloof, and never liked to talk about her past. She has actually changed since the dementia, and now gets very soppy. As well as trying her hand at art, with a course at the local adult class place, she also did a course on writing.
The 7 pages typed on electric typewriter. It was starting to get dark so I took tje pages over to the window and sat with them on my lap to read. It was very emotional because it was a sad story and I could tell it was from experience.
I read it then went to put the pages back in order. I was missing Page 1. I searched everywhere and still haven't found it. I was quite upset. I even tried looking behind the radiator because that was the only place near where I was sitting. Somehow I felt a sense of loss, as Mum cannot remember well to tell me her story, I lost page 1 of her story, which was autobiographical I am sure.
I have put pages 2-7 back in the box, hopefully I can put it out of my mind.
 

DesperateofDevon

Registered User
Jul 7, 2019
3,274
0
As well as the artwork I also found a short story Mum had written.
I have been decluttering Mum's house and taken 2 boxes of stuff back to my flat to sort through.

Mum has always ben a very private person even coming across as cold and aloof, and never liked to talk about her past. She has actually changed since the dementia, and now gets very soppy. As well as trying her hand at art, with a course at the local adult class place, she also did a course on writing.
The 7 pages typed on electric typewriter. It was starting to get dark so I took tje pages over to the window and sat with them on my lap to read. It was very emotional because it was a sad story and I could tell it was from experience.
I read it then went to put the pages back in order. I was missing Page 1. I searched everywhere and still haven't found it. I was quite upset. I even tried looking behind the radiator because that was the only place near where I was sitting. Somehow I felt a sense of loss, as Mum cannot remember well to tell me her story, I lost page 1 of her story, which was autobiographical I am sure.
I have put pages 2-7 back in the box, hopefully I can put it out of my mind.

it will turn up
X
 

Sarasa

Volunteer Host
Apr 13, 2018
7,195
0
Nottinghamshire
I understand that loss @Mydarlingdaughter , and hope page one turns up. Mum read my husband and I poem she'd written a few years back, and it was really excellent. She later told me she'd lost it, but I assumed it would turn up when I cleared her flat when she went into a care home. It hasn't, and I'm very sad about that as I'd loved to have re-read it and shared it with my own writing group. It was about a young girl putting on make-up and it was so mum and so poignant.
 

Mydarlingdaughter

Registered User
Oct 25, 2019
205
0
North East England UK
Thanks, I think you are right. Appreciate your thoughts.
Mum passed away in 2021 and I did keep most of her art work. I have since moved house and just this morning was doing a bit of tidying up and found some more of her sketchbooks which I has put in a cupboard when moving in to my new home. They are not taking up a lot of room but I wonder if t some point I may be able to do something with them.
I still feel very sad about what happened.
 

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