Watercolour bird illustrations for Active Minds nature observer bird book

I have recently had the pleasure of collaborating on a project for Active Minds, a London based company who create amazing, mindfully designed activity products for people with Dementia.

Ben Atkinson-Willes is the founder of Active Minds and shares in the video below his own experiences with his grandfather when he was diagnosed with Alzheimer's. It was the desire to find more creative, less patronizing solutions to help improve the quality of life for people living with dementia that led to Ben founding creative Minds.

"There are approximately 800,000 people in the UK living with dementia, and an estimated 36 million people worldwide. The UK’s rapidly aging population will only continue to increase pressures on the care sector, and families and society more widely. Active Minds hopes that by providing meaningful and engaging activities for nursing and residential homes it will help reduce problems of depression, boredom and isolation so commonly associated with dementia. Our recent social impact report showed that 100% of professional carers and 80% of family members felt the activities improved the quality of life of people with dementia." - active minds

A selection of some of the sketches sent to Active minds before they are signed off and I begin to paint them.

Some of the commissioned watercolour artwork coming together...

I am definitely a strong believer in the therapeutic benefits of connecting with nature, providing positive effects on wellbeing and mental health. 

The Active Minds bird book is an engaging and mindful visual guide. Carefully designed to support and encourage people to recognise, observe and identify birds in the garden, on walks, or in the park or countryside. Each bird has been selected because they are visually bold and clear and can also be found in most gardens.

Active Minds have also got a Build and Feed product so you can make your own bird feeders to attract the birds to spot from the book.