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Art As A Tool For Healing


mfh

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Carrie,

God bless him for it but that has to be hard for you. Perhaps you should humor him just to make him feel better? He's trying to take care of you in his own way. Whether or not you use it as your art studio is up to you.

I'm sorry there's so many stairs! My sister has three levels and with her hip problems is considering getting one of those things that climbs stairs with her in it, I forget what it's called.

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Dear Kay,

I'm trying to respond to your post, but things keep changing on me here so fast that by the time I write, whatever I said has changed. I said elsewhere that for tonight I gave up on living in the present, and that I'll try again tomorrow. My today is definitely changing my future drastically, but I'll be all right.

Do you remember back in the '70s (when you were a child) a thing called a weeble (or was it a a wobble)? You could knock it over, and it would stand back up again. Amberly had one. Like you, and many others here, somehow, I usually pop back up ~ at some time and to some degree. Some things you just don't get over ~ and popping back up is very difficult.

I was writing to you tonight when Amberly got home from work. I had not realized how hard she is taking her Daddy's taking down his electronic parts, disposing of so many of his possessions, and changing so many things. She came in, and sat on the floor beside my bed (I was already in bed), and needed to talk. She said, "I don't want Daddy to remove his parts and things. I sort of hoped he'd leave them where they are, but that would make it harder for you, wouldn't it? She said, "It's so sad that he's doing this." I told her that as hard as this is now, it would be even harder later. She agreed. I knew Amberly was going to hurt, but didn't know she would hurt as badly as she is. While she's at work, she can divert her mind.

I'm telling myself that other people get through such as this ~ and much worse ~ so we will manage with God's strength.

I do hope this makes sends.

Thank you so very much for caring. You have a compassionate heart.

Hugs,

Carrie

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Oh Carrie, this is a very hard time for you and your family. My heart goes out to you.

Actually, I was married in 1970, so not a child any more. :) I never saw one but must have seen it advertised because I do remember of them, they're called Weebles.
What an apt visual of what we feel like!
post-914-0-19483700-1432383273_thumb.jpg

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Thanks, Kay. Yes, these are the Weebles I had in mind! Seeing them again makes me happy. They bring back such happy, happy memories of playing with Amberly when she was little.

Each of us here on the forum is going to be all right. We all both hold onto each other, and hold each other up. The wind beneath our wings ultimately comes from God, but He often provides it through our loved ones and precious friends ~ such as we have here.

God also gives us art as a way to create. In the beginning of time, He looked over His creations, was happy about His work, and pronounced us all "good." He wanted us to enjoy that kind of happy, so He gave us a desire to create, and gave us art (and art appreciation). He knew that we were all going to want and need each other, so He gave us Marty.

Carrie

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  • 3 months later...

This is my latest pencil coloring piece and I thought I'd share. Usually I add my work to my Pinterest board now, but today I felt like sharing it with all of you. The meaning it has for me is to see all of us gathered around our circle holding each other up as we continue on our grief paths. Each one of us moves at our own pace, but never alone.

9:2015 mandela.jpg

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That is beautiful, Anne!  It must have taken a long time.

I recently ran across a picture of some art work I did right after losing George, sort of self therapy...

These were meant to show how I was feeling then, and where I wanted to be.

Feelings negative.jpg

Feelings Positive.jpg

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Kay,

I love your works of art. Your card making was an inspiration for me to get started in what I am doing today. Marty introduced me to The Secret Garden book and I was hooked. My pencil coloring is a big part of my healing. It does take focus and I never know what the final outcomes will be when I start. 

secret_garden_grande.jpeg

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Art is an integral part of us that needs to be brought out and used.  I could no more live without art than my son could without trucks.  :)

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  • 1 month later...
  • 6 months later...

This was on Marty's grief healing site today. I have been coloring for several years now and it helps me to stay centered and relaxes me. Marty introduced me to The Secret Garden coloring book a few years back.

427169_10150717216727448_1509360244_n.jp
 
 

“While art therapy has been used for decades to help people express what they can’t put into words, filling in the spaces of a coloring book has a different kind of benefit: enabling people to relax and be more focused . . . Coloring within an outlined structure can help to contain and organize feelings of distress and helplessness.” http://j.mp/1siO7aC

 
safe_image.php?d=AQDiU5-d487f_iiU&w=470&
After several people close to her died, a grief counselor developed an adult coloring book meant to help people with all kinds of losses.
WELL.BLOGS.NYTIMES.COM|BY JANE E. BRODY
 
 
 
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I just stumbled across this topic-Art As A Tool For Healing-I love it! 

Anne, I love your work-it is so delicate and precise! I draw and paint, but I could never do what you do. That is what is so great about art-it is as varied as we all are. My art is kind of wild and loose...

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Thank You, Laura. I love your "wild and loose" art. I have been up north and am so inspired by the creativity of the artists in the Sedona area.

I am so glad you found this thread. I started out coloring other people's designs and have only recently started to draw my own mandalas. I am working on a mandala that depicts my pain over the loss of my Jim on May 25.2012.  

Anne

a secret garden first.jpg

seasons of change.jpg

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Thanks, Anne! It just occurred to me today to use my art as a way of processing my grief. and I'm not even sure what that means or how to go about it. What I usually do is paint music...my goal is that the vibrations and qualities of some music will be conveyed through the visual art so that something audible/musical is seen without any obvious symbols of music. But portraying the vibrations of grief...that is a new one. This is a quickie drawing, but the background behind this hibiscus is really the subject matter-it is the vibration of my cat purring.

I have a date with some Hollyhocks on Wednesday morning...these people have an amazing collection of hollyhocks and said I could come and paint them-they have a really cool color blooming right now. But there will be something else going on, no doubt...

 

Hibiscus with purring.JPG

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I used art to depict my grief, early on. One portrayed where I felt I was and another was of what I wanted my life to be.

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  • 2 weeks later...

You probably showed your works Kay and I just missed seeing them. If you haven't, I'd love to see how you depicted grief and a future.  I just restored this sculpture that I did in college. It was my ex wife when I first married her. This is the medium I liked the best and it is done with plaster bandages like doctors used to do to make casts for broken limbs. It was all busted up and she didn't want it any longer and frankly I don't want it either. I'm giving it to my son in case he wants his mother in his house. What I really want to do is cast my grandchildren if I can get them to hold still long enough.

sculpture 1 - Copy.JPG

sculpture 3 - Copy.JPG

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I know I posted it early on but can't find a picture of it on my computer.  If I run across it I'll post it.

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