{"id":6548,"date":"2025-12-15T21:08:49","date_gmt":"2025-12-15T21:08:49","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/?p=6548"},"modified":"2026-01-09T21:08:34","modified_gmt":"2026-01-09T21:08:34","slug":"faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/","title":{"rendered":"Faces of Verve: Living Colourful with Alya at Forestview"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

At 89, Forestview<\/a> resident Alya Da Silva has discovered a true passion for art. Her paintings fill her days with colour and meaning, and her story reminds us it\u2019s never too late to begin something new.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Originally from Brazil, Alya moved to Canada in 1984 with her husband Bira and their young children. Their lives were devoted to their church, missionary work, and charitable projects that took them through the Amazon, into the United States, and eventually to Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Despite all she has given to her community, Alya describes herself humbly as \u201cnot really a professional artist.\u201d<\/em> In fact, her artistic journey didn\u2019t begin until she was 70, when she was active in her church community while her husband served as pastor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It was during her time in Cambridge that Alya began attending weekly painting sessions at a local seniors\u2019 centre. Encouragement and constructive feedback from an instructor helped her develop her technique and inspired her to keep going.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Since moving to Forestview in 2018, Alya has continued to create. Two of her most meaningful pieces include a ceramic cup and saucer crafted in memory of her husband, and a plate painted with Birds of Paradise<\/em> in honour of her granddaughter.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Alya\u2019s journey with art is a beautiful example of passion, perseverance, and the many colourful paths life can take.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

At 89, Forestview resident Alya Da Silva has discovered a true passion for art. Her paintings fill her days with colour and meaning, and her story reminds us it\u2019s never too late to begin something n …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":88,"featured_media":6575,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6548","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-residents-stories"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nFaces of Verve: Living Colourful with Alya at Forestview - Verve Senior Living Blog<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Faces of Verve: Living Colourful with Alya at Forestview\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"At 89, Forestview resident Alya Da Silva has discovered a true passion for art. Her paintings fill her days with colour and meaning, and her story reminds us it\u2019s never too late to begin something n ...\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Verve Senior Living Blog\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-12-15T21:08:49+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2026-01-09T21:08:34+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/12\/Alya-Da-Silva-art-show-1-e1767992878811.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1117\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"658\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"courtney\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"courtney\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"courtney\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/506f1d54e5c882deef2dd250bf5772bb\"},\"headline\":\"Faces of Verve: Living Colourful with Alya at Forestview\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-15T21:08:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-09T21:08:34+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":228,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Alya-Da-Silva-art-show-1-e1767992878811.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"Residents' Stories\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\\\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\\\/\",\"name\":\"Faces of Verve: Living Colourful with Alya at Forestview - Verve Senior Living Blog\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\\\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Alya-Da-Silva-art-show-1-e1767992878811.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-12-15T21:08:49+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2026-01-09T21:08:34+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/506f1d54e5c882deef2dd250bf5772bb\"},\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\\\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\\\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\\\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Alya-Da-Silva-art-show-1-e1767992878811.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/wp-content\\\/uploads\\\/sites\\\/41\\\/2025\\\/12\\\/Alya-Da-Silva-art-show-1-e1767992878811.jpg\",\"width\":1117,\"height\":658,\"caption\":\"Screenshot\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\\\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Faces of Verve: Living Colourful with Alya at Forestview\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/\",\"name\":\"Verve Senior Living Blog\",\"description\":\"\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/506f1d54e5c882deef2dd250bf5772bb\",\"name\":\"courtney\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b612404f39d6c16aef24bc2453e0db5ce2feaf188c9b9bb694b2bb9ad6624264?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b612404f39d6c16aef24bc2453e0db5ce2feaf188c9b9bb694b2bb9ad6624264?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\\\/\\\/secure.gravatar.com\\\/avatar\\\/b612404f39d6c16aef24bc2453e0db5ce2feaf188c9b9bb694b2bb9ad6624264?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"courtney\"},\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/verveseniorliving.com\\\/news-events-blog\\\/author\\\/courtney\\\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Faces of Verve: Living Colourful with Alya at Forestview - Verve Senior Living Blog","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Faces of Verve: Living Colourful with Alya at Forestview","og_description":"At 89, Forestview resident Alya Da Silva has discovered a true passion for art. Her paintings fill her days with colour and meaning, and her story reminds us it\u2019s never too late to begin something n ...","og_url":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/","og_site_name":"Verve Senior Living Blog","article_published_time":"2025-12-15T21:08:49+00:00","article_modified_time":"2026-01-09T21:08:34+00:00","og_image":[{"width":1117,"height":658,"url":"http:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/12\/Alya-Da-Silva-art-show-1-e1767992878811.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"courtney","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"courtney","Est. reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/"},"author":{"name":"courtney","@id":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/506f1d54e5c882deef2dd250bf5772bb"},"headline":"Faces of Verve: Living Colourful with Alya at Forestview","datePublished":"2025-12-15T21:08:49+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-09T21:08:34+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/"},"wordCount":228,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/12\/Alya-Da-Silva-art-show-1-e1767992878811.jpg","articleSection":["Residents' Stories"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/","url":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/","name":"Faces of Verve: Living Colourful with Alya at Forestview - Verve Senior Living Blog","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/12\/Alya-Da-Silva-art-show-1-e1767992878811.jpg","datePublished":"2025-12-15T21:08:49+00:00","dateModified":"2026-01-09T21:08:34+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/506f1d54e5c882deef2dd250bf5772bb"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/12\/Alya-Da-Silva-art-show-1-e1767992878811.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/41\/2025\/12\/Alya-Da-Silva-art-show-1-e1767992878811.jpg","width":1117,"height":658,"caption":"Screenshot"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/faces-of-verve-living-colourful-with-alya-at-forestview\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Faces of Verve: Living Colourful with Alya at Forestview"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/","name":"Verve Senior Living Blog","description":"","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/#\/schema\/person\/506f1d54e5c882deef2dd250bf5772bb","name":"courtney","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b612404f39d6c16aef24bc2453e0db5ce2feaf188c9b9bb694b2bb9ad6624264?s=96&d=mm&r=g","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b612404f39d6c16aef24bc2453e0db5ce2feaf188c9b9bb694b2bb9ad6624264?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/b612404f39d6c16aef24bc2453e0db5ce2feaf188c9b9bb694b2bb9ad6624264?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"courtney"},"url":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/author\/courtney\/"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6548","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/88"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6548"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6548\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6550,"href":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6548\/revisions\/6550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6575"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6548"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6548"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/verveseniorliving.com\/news-events-blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6548"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}