Elder care and a new sketch challenge

Since I last posted, we managed to find a placement for Dad in a Nursing Home.  I've been taking Mum up to see him almost daily so my days have been quite full with little time for much else.  When I do get days to myself,  I'm usually catching up with housework, etc.  There were some very emotional days once we settled Dad into his room at the Home. Dad seemed so sad. Mum and I even brought him back to his own home for a couple of days thinking we'd made a mistake but, after only one night, Mum quickly realised that she was unable to cope with Dad's high needs care.  Dad will have been a resident of the Home for four weeks come Wednesday and he does seem to be more settled now.  They have activities daily for the dementia pod and it makes us happy to see Dad included in these as he has never been a mixer.  He waves hello to staff and other residents; some of the staff even get hugs.  Of course, I'm sure he will still have his down days but, for the most part, things seem to be going well.

Beau (#2 son), Dad, Bradley (#1 son), and my Mum.

Believe it or not, in just under two weeks of being in the Home, Dad was whisked off to hospital and ended up with a cast on his forearm due to a suspected broken wrist from one of his many falls.  Yes, he's had quite a few falls at the Home but we're not surprised. Dad is a very high falls risk.   As soon as he stands up, he's at risk of falling due to his stroke-affected side so, no, we don't blame the Home. He had many falls even before he went into the Home. The staff can't be with him 24 hours a day as they have other residents to care for too.  I can say that they are doing everything they can to prevent or lessen the amount of falls he does have.  A sensor mat on the floor by his bed, adjusting his bed height so it's lower to the ground making it impossible for him to stand up from the bed without assistance, and keeping his walker out of sight are three of the main ones.  While a walker aid may be great for some, it's a danger for Dad unless he has someone assisting him.  If Dad sees the walker, he tries to get to it because he thinks he can manage alone...he can't.

Me, Bradley, and two lovebirds. hehe

The Home has a cafe within the facility with a nice rockery fountain setting (seen behind me in the photo above) which I plan to sketch at a later date.  Speaking of sketching, I took on a new challenge recently....

365 days of daily sketches!

Just call me crazy!

I have been sketching but I haven't had time to transfer them all

from my camera to the computer 

and then re-size them all for uploading.

So, for now, I'll post the first 14 days of sketches. 

I sketch mostly from life, on location,
and I always sketch directly in pen,
only occasionally will I sketch from a photo.
I will also use watercolours, PRO or PITT markers,  
or more rarely, coloured pencils to finish the sketch. 

I'm currently using my quad-rule Holcroft travel sketchbook.

I'm happy to say that it seems to handle the watercolour 

reasonably well and, unless I really overwork an area, 

it does not bleed through to the other side.

I'm impressed considering the paper is recycled

and quite thin at 120gsm.

Some sketches are rushed and simple,

others more detailed. 

I sketch as time allows each day.

I must also apologise for the awful photos.
The lighting was terrible
and I just didn't have time to re-take them.

I will try to upload more over the coming days. 

I know I'm a little late but I'm linking up to Sunday Sketches 

and The Artist's Play Room for this post.