Art As A Tool For Healing

[enna]

Summer fun.

[kayc]

Very pretty, Anne!

[kayc]

Mary, I used art in my grief healing when George died. I remember doing one piece depicting how I felt, another for where I wanted to be. They were very different, I believe I shared them here but have no idea how to find it. I also did a collage, I spent about 17 hours on it, I worked feverishly to finish it in time for his memorial service, and I have it still.

[feralfae]

Dear Anne,

Thank you for the beautiful paisley and bouquet. I am so very happy you share your work here with us. It brings a smile to my heart and lips.

Thank you and

*<twinkles>*

fae

[enna]

Thinking of all my forum friends as we each go through our own concerns and healing this day.

Click on the 'save' option for the first picture to see a better picture of it.

[MartyT]

Just beautiful, dear Anne! Just beautiful! ♥

[mfh]

Love the art work and the O'Donohue quote...one of my favorite mystics.

[feralfae]

[enna]

Today I am grateful for my eyes.

[MartyT]

♥

[enna]

A season for change.

[MartyT]

The colors of Autumn, too ~ just lovely, Anne ♥

[enna]

Part of the healing process for me has been to enjoy colored pencil art. It has been important for me to acknowledge how very difficult the process of grief really is ~ this is one way of expressing my grief and giving me a momentary relief of my grief.

"Where you used to be, there is a hole in the world, which I find myself constantly walking around in the daytime, and falling in at night. I miss you like hell." ~ Edna St. Vincent Millay

[Wifflesnook]

Lovely Anne. And I love the quote. It's evening here in England.

[enna]

[kayc]

Yes, art does not know perfection, for it is an illusion, it creates feeling, it exists to make us feel, ponder, appreciate...if it has done this, it has served it's purpose. Perhaps the greatest beauty art creates is in us...the process of creating.

[enna]

My Labyrinth and Dragonfly for Spring.

View them on the 'save' button to see the entire pictures.

[kayc]

Beautiful, Anne! Ilove dragonflies, so that is very special to me.

[MartyT]

Just lovely, Anne! Thank you so much for sharing with all of us! I love the intricacies of these drawings, as well as the colors you select ~ and the bumble bee is adorable! ♥

[feralfae]

Oh, Anne! How beautiful! I love both of your pieces, but of course I love the beautiful dragonfly best. You are wonderfully talented in using color inlays that balance and create a mood or evoke an aesthetic response.

[enna]

“A tulip doesn’t strive to impress anyone. It doesn’t struggle to be different than a rose. It doesn’t have to. It is different. And there’s room in the garden for every flower." ~ Marianne Williamson

Grief is like that ~ different for each one of us. No comparisons, no right or wrong way ~ only our way. We hear this over and over again. We travel our path but never alone. That is what we learn here on the forum.

Our way to deal with grief is like the flowers ~ no two are the same. There is no competing. There is no blueprint to this journey we are all on.

Those who have experienced a loss know this. It makes no difference what the loss is ~ loss is loss. After the loss of my Jim, I became more tolerant of those in grief. I don’t try to “fix” someone else nor do I have answers for those grieving. What I found that I do have is a listening ear.

As the flowers grow in our gardens so do the grievers who come and go here. We receive what is offered and later, much later we begin to give a little bit back.

Part of my healing has been to do color pencil coloring. I like doing it. It is something new for me just as learning how to play the piano. I am not good at it ~ so my granddaughter says!

[kayc]

My dear Anne,

You are so right. And art is not a perfection, it is an expression, it is an impression, it is perception. It is in the eye of the beholder...and the creator. We create, it is wonderful for our souls! Art can be an antidote for stress. Art is appreciation for life and all we see and feel.

[enna]

Yay! After waiting for a few weeks my second book Enchanted Forest by Johanna Basford arrived today in the mail. I like my Secret Garden Coloring book and now I have her second book. I can hardly wait to begin. I find it so relaxing to work on this new found hobby.

The picture below I called 'Creative Expressions' and loved going outside the box while doing it. Did you find the mouse?

You can see the pictures better if you click on 'save' ~ the pictures are smaller.

[kayc]

Yes, I see the mouse. There is a place called "The Enchanted Forest" near my son's place, we took the kids there when they were young.

[LadyCarrie]

Anne,

You must have purchased the last two of Johanna Basford's coloring books (smile). I just recently learned about them, and was considering ordering. After I saw today that you have them, and like yours so well, I told Jerry about them. He handed me his iPad just now, and suggested that I go ahead and get them from Amazon. Both books are out of stock. Ugh! I guess I'll be waiting a few weeks also. . I'm happy you have yours. Have fun, and do share your work with us. I enjoy seeing your photos. I found the mouse.

Kay, you are so right in all that you said regarding art, and you said it well. You must feel this in your soul in order to know it. It is the playing in color that I love. Color is addictive, I think. I can get a color "high" with paint on canvas, and not from fumes ~ just the happy in my heart (I have a feeling that a some of you who read this will understand). I like playing with color whether on canvas, in the garden, or on the table. Color was my specialty in my salons years ago.

We've been moving things around in the house so that Jerry doesn't need to use the stairs so much. His hip causes him much pain. We moved my office downstairs to the middle level, and his desk, etc. upstairs two levels so that he is just across the hall from our bedroom and his bathroom (Amberly's old room, which we still call her room). Our house is average size. It's just built on a hill with LOTS of stairs inside and outside. It's a split-level house built on five levels, but just under 2400 sq. feet. I think there are about 20-24 stairs from our bedroom to our actual office. The stairs are becoming more and more difficult for him to use. The sound of the thump of his foot hitting the stairs (so slowly and heavily) will be in my memory always. Thud, pause, another thud. The sound is hammered into my mind. It is not a sound I choose to remember.

Jerry offered me part of his shop space for my art supplies (he's going through his things with plans to "get rid of things no longer needed" [!!]). I likely won't accept his offer, because this is no time to paint, except in my mind. It's better to put most of my supplies in the storage room for now ~ colored pencils, color books, and sketching materials excepted. It's been a long time since I've used any of these, but I like to look at them and plan. Jerry's wanted me to have an art studio for a long time, as I once had, but even if I had time to paint, I'm not about to be so far away from him. The thought just crossed my mind that he's trying to get me all set up. He's taking his things down for me! I think I know what he's doing.

This began with me teasing, and now just listen to me. I could get whiplash from these mood changes. I'll go and give this some thought. I'm not sure what to think.

Hugs dear friends,

Carrie