Alix Wolffe
ALIX’S ISOLATION WORLD
This is written by Alix’s daughter Lois…
Mum was struggling with isolation (though she didn't admit it) and the 100 Days Project provided each day with a purpose and a bit of structure. At 89 years old, she was infirm, and going blind, but each day chose something from her garden to paint. We lived 100 miles apart, so she would take a picture and send it to me, to upload to her Instagram.
Mum would also research what she was painting some days, so she could add in the Latin names, or tell me more about it when we spoke each evening before she went to bed. She loved this project, and talked of holding her own exhibition in her hometown.
We started late (Day 13) and after Day 82 she just stopped and did not pick up a pencil again.
Early in 2021 she was diagnosed with Alzheimers and vascular dementia. With hindsight, it seems likely that Mum had a series of mini strokes (or TIAs) during that first lockdown year, and that on Day 82 it impacted her ability to draw what she could see.
She now lives in a care home, and has no recollection that she could ever draw.
