A Phenomenal Job

This was sent to me by a friend, Leslie Vandas, who has put a lot of work into an amazing project. Read on...



She writes..."I saw an ad in the local newspaper asking for volunteers to paint murals for the Alzheimer unit at Capilano Care Center.  I really felt that I should call as Milan's mom [her husband] is now living there although not on this particular floor.  The woman organizing it is an artist now living on the Sunshine coast whose old friend is living at Cap.  When she visits there she hates the institutional look and felt the staff and residents would benefit from a series of murals along a very long hallway.  Her hope was to challenge artists across North America to use their talent to make institutions more stimulating places to be.

Originally we met at a very yucky location and it was to be a commitment of two days a week 3 hours per day.  It ended up in our garage, six days a week, for two and a half months.  There are five panels of 10 ft x 4 ft and four panels 4 x4.
There was a core group of 4 committed ladies who became very good friends during this very amazing experience.  I remember you telling me that it is important to paint every day and wow did we ever!
I have included some photos of the large ones here.  Mine is the one with the two pots of the left and two pillars on the right.  Some aren't finished yet.

Meanwhile, our house was for sale during this time and people would be blown away when they came into the garage and saw what was going on there.  The first family that looked at the house were very interested in the murals and she emailed a colleague in Singapore (where they just moved here from) and explained what we were doing.  They actually bought the house and the other day she was here and said a prominent artist in Singapore is now overseeing two mural projects there.  One in a children's hospital and one in a home for handicapped kids! 

What happened in that garage changed all of us forever!  The one with the rocks across the bottom was done by a lady who has never painting before!  She hooked rugs before but is now selling all her equipment and is buying paints!
There will be a big fund raiser to cover the cost of the project in the fall and all of us would do it again (but not for such an extended time period). It was all documented by a professional photographer who will produce giclee prints on canvas for sale as well as prints for "our portfolios" (which none of us have!)
Anyway, I thought you might be interested to see what we did."