We often need to draw on our inner strength and resilience to face whatever life brings our way. I have discovered that creating art and leading a meaningful life after a loss requires me to “show up,” whether confronting a blank canvas or any other challenge. It involves being receptive to the whisperings of my heart and remaining open to inspiration, even when it seems elusive. Sometimes, it consists of sifting through uncomfortable feelings to find a tiny sparkle of…
I’ve always wanted to listen to my heart, but it wasn’t until I began to heal from the most traumatic loss of my life that I truly started to hear what my heart was telling me. Now, I’m following a path guided by its messages. Although the path is not clearly defined, an essential part of being the queen of my heart involves taking the time and giving myself the space needed to figure things out. This means practicing self-compassion…
I found one antidote to overwhelm was quiet. Inviting quiet might seem like a simple thing, but allowing myself to settle into the silent time I needed was not easy. When I was grieving, I wished to seek distractions to avoid facing my pain rather than sitting with my wounded heart and listening to what it had to tell me. Now, I have come to appreciate the value of silence, which brings me comfort and inspiration. I suppose it has…
Loss of any kind can be overwhelming. The feelings of overwhelm showed up in different ways for me. At first, I was in shock and couldn’t truly comprehend that my husband was gone. I knew it on one level but struggled to accept the reality for many months. There was the initial shock of loss, during which my mind couldn’t fathom that my husband was gone. I knew it on one level, but struggled to actually come to terms with…
I felt the need to gather positive thoughts fairly early in my grieving. The old expression “Feather Your Nest” kept coming to mind, so I composed this little poem to express my feelings. Feather a nest where your heart can restLined with blessings soft as down.Moisten with tears over the yearsYou are never truly alone. As I wrote the poem, I remembered a small nest I’d had leftover from a craft project years before. After covering a canvas square with…
Taoists believe that there is continuity that flows through everything in the universe. It touches and connects everything in all times, places and dimensions. They believe this continuity is present in all parts of us including our body and spirit. It connects us to everyone and everything within and around us.The Taoists call this connectivity The Golden Thread. It is a spiritual concept that binds us all. I was introduced to this idea while accompanying my husband to his demanding…
I stitched this little heart to symbolize the usually unexpected triggers that seemed to pierce my heart during the healing process. These were often in the form of an innocent or casual comment, an intrusive memory, or even a tiny detail occurring in everyday life. During those times, my heart often felt like a pincushion, and it still does occasionally. However, I made an effort to acknowledge and nurture the hope I held within. The small feather I found in…
As I worked through my grief and loneliness, feelings of vulnerability, uncertainty, and anxiety seemed to be my constant companions. Could I ever feel comfortable in a life without my husband? What sort of life would that be? This piece was inspired by the metaphor of a garden growing hopefully to enclose my anxiety and doubts. Thinking of this positive imagery helped me to cope with the distress I was feeling.I used tiny gemstones, glitter and many scraps of paper…
Suffering a loss can sometimes result in personal growth and resilience, offering unexpected opportunities for self-discovery. Rather than labeling these newly revealed possibilities as “gifts,” I prefer to view them as offerings. Unlike a gift, an offering provides the bereaved with more freedom to select what is helpful at any given moment, without the expectation of acceptance. I combined black Japanese lace paper representing grief with colorful iridescent paper representing hope shining through to create this canvas background. I’ve been…
I created this small canvas at the start of one summer. I longed for days, and vacations gone by. For me, grieving is not only about missing my husband, but also missing a state of mind and the way I felt in the world when he was still here. I recreated a scene on canvas based on an old photo of a favorite vacation spot. To convey the sense of distance I felt from those perfect days, I painted a…