@Jeruba I kind of like the bleed through. Especially on #2. It looks like these giant sunflowers looking benevolently on the snow people.
# 2 looks like snow people, and they are making snowmen, but there is also this giant head, which reminds me of the Easter Island statues. Most of the characters are facing us, as they are in most of the pictures. It’s a primitivistic kind of thing, although not necessarily childlike. More like an untutored drawer.
#1 I couldn’t figure out the boxes the heads were on for a while. These are, to my mind, the sunflower people. But I decided the boxes are blankets, and these are kids sleeping, like in daycare, except maybe they are elderly in the nursing home. In any case, they creep me out. The smiles look forced, like they are pod people or something.
#3 Has a darker mood. That character on the left is evilly smiling. What’s he up to? The two in the middle are dressed in striped like prisoners, or like mummies, since there are no facial features. That may mean their backs are to us. The one further back—an attempt at perspective?—seems to be doing something to the one in front. But what? Fixing her clothes? The guy on the right is tipping to the middle, as is the guy on the left. They are all bundled up to go outside in the winter. I have no idea about the feature on the left. Stream? Tree? This is another creepy one.
#4 I think of as the Wizard of Oz people. They remind me of the drawings for that book. Kind of tin woodsmany or like the people in emerald city. Again, the uniform happiness is disturbing. I feel like these people are saying “help, let me out of here.”
#5 The main feature of note is that a woman appears to be offering food. The figures seem to be rendered in a more sophisticated way than the other pieces, so far.
#6 The figure on the left appears to be wrapped up, as if in a strait jacket. The woman in the middle has very prominently drawn breasts. The woman on the right looks like a nurse. I get the feeling of being stuck in the funny farm.
#7 shows people, trees, and houses. The people are outside and it appears to be summertime, instead of the winter seen in other drawings. The house on the left reminds me of a giant coffee maker, or as a kind of barn with a face. The house on the right is vaguely churchlike. It may indeed be meant to be a church as one of the figures to the right is on her knees, supplicating or doing some kind of penance? I get the sense that the barn with the face could be a god, and the figure to the right is asking for something. The figure behind is all colored in. Death? Could she be asking to die and go to heaven (symbolized by happy woman on left)?
#8 reminds me of a tippy toy family. Their feet are all together, and if you knock them over, they will bob back up again. The boy on the left has an evil smile, and the little girl on the right looks sad. Did your grandmother have an older brother who teased her a lot?
#9 Looks like either a family outside in winter, with an unhappy boy trailing behind, or a happy couple with an unhappy priest behind. I find the coloring in to be notable, as I do not believe it happens much in the other drawings. On the other hand, there is no background or background features.
#10 looks unfinished. The squares may be the blankets, and the circles could be the beginnings of heads. This could be another kindergarten nap time, or nursing home sleep time drawing.
#11 is kind of Boschian. Or maybe in a Dali style. Some of the creatures seem vaguely birdlike. Only two have visible legs. This could be a parade or a religious procession. Was grandma very religious?
I guess that, as Alzheimer’s progresses, people revert to an earlier phase of life, both in terms of memories and skills. Her figures mostly seemed conventionally happy, with the exception of a few sad faces and some very menacing figures. If I knew more about her childhood, I suspect this would make more sense. Knowing she is first generation with Polish background, I can see the religious stuff. That her Mother remarried, might explain the unhappiness, if the new Father already had a son. The sadness could be a reflection of the Great Depression, and the nurse figure could be her during the WWII. Did she work in an insane asylum? Did she work in a facility for shell-shocked vets?
If this does reflect her life, a sort of retrospective, I would think she lived, trying to appear happy on the outside, but inside she was not the same. I think life was hard for her, and she was grateful to be released from it. I think she felt like an outcast most of the time, and if that’s the case, then she was probably lonely.
In any case, those are some things that would help the drawings make sense to me. Obviously, this is just imagination at creating a backstory to explain the drawings. I could be totally wrong on it all. So, fwiw, that’s what I go from them.
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