Art of Healing: Exploring Grief and Loss Through Creativity

Grieving after a great loss can be difficult. What provides you comfort during a time of bereavement may not be the same as what comforts someone else. As human beings, you and I experience pain uniquely; the same goes for how we cope. 

Expressing your pain through art can be a healing experience. Grief art helps us fight and let go of the feeling of loss. It can shift your focus away from your grief and toward positive memories and recollections, which is found effective in dealing with trauma and grief.

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What is Grief Art?

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Expressive arts therapy or grieving art helps bereaved people use their creativity to block pain. Grief art lets grief develop and decrease in a safe space. When we create something, we give ourselves permission to look at every angle while grieving. 

Benefits of Grief Art

Art Surpasses Words

Grieving people often have no idea what to say. They are often so buried in grief that sometimes nothing makes sense. While art can accommodate many contradictory feelings and perspectives. 

Art Releases Bad Feelings

Grief brings up a lot of bad emotions, such as anger, sadness, and despair, among others. If you don't let those feelings out, they can destroy you from the inside. Art gives these emotions a way out through the blank canvas where you don't have to worry about being judged and where you can vent strong emotions without causing pain.

Art Takes Your Mind Off of Grief

Taking up an artistic pursuit like painting, drawing, or sculpture can be a healthy distraction from dwelling on your loss and help you focus on the present. Grief art is used by many people who are grieving as a means to release their emotions and cope with their loss. 

Importance of Self-Expression in Dealing With Loss

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Grief can make people feel many different things. Some of your feelings might even make you feel scared or nervous. Getting over a loss by being creative is a safe way to express yourself. When you create, no one else has to be there unless you want them to be.

Types of Grief Art

Painting

Painting provides grievers the most freedom. One can paint anything. People can paint with different tools. Painting is less controlled and flowing. They can use tools on a blank canvas or an existing image. Oils, acrylics, and watercolors are available. 

Drawing or Sketching

Since drawing or sketching is a more comfortable and secure artistic form of expression, many people find it simple to transition into art therapy. You may employ drawing techniques with pencils, charcoal,  pens, pastels, and crayons to produce basic markings to describe their feelings and emotions. 

Collage

Collages combine magazine clippings and word tiles to make another choice for art grief.  It emphasizes construction rather than creation, making it a safer approach to conveying emotions. 

Writing

Writing can help you process complex emotions through journaling, storyboarding, or comics. Writing can help you express and connect feelings you couldn't verbalize. Writing prompts can help therapists guide their patients.

Photography

As you go through the sadness of losing a loved one, photography may be a wonderful method to express yourself. It combines old images, recollections, and digital photo editing. Imagery can be used to activate memories and reconstruct images, resulting in a more positive framework. 

Ideas for Grief Art Projects

Tracing of Hand

Sitting in a quiet place and tracing your hands is a great start. Write, draw, or color things that were important to you before your loss. Think carefully about your life. You may ask questions that will make you think about things you've learned on your journey. Like, what's important to you, and are you happy with this new way of life?

Tattoo

Although many people might disagree, making tattoo art and having tattoos can be considered a form of expression while grieving. You can memorialize your lost loved one by creating a spot on your body that will make you remember the good days.

Recording Music

You can always create and record a music or video playlist for the lost person. Remember what it was that they liked listening to, then make something similar for them.

The Healing Power of Grief Art

Strong feelings often accompany the experience of loss. The making of grief art or engaging with it can be therapeutic. You don't have to be artistic to use art to mend broken pieces of yourself. Creating grief art about your loss enables your grief to be recognized and gives it a physical form which makes it easier to process.

Grief art is a way to show how much a loved one means to you by drawing put creativity from your loneliness and sorrow after their passing. The artists at Memorialize Art understand the difficulty of this time in your life and have made it their mission to provide meaningful memorial gifts for you and your loved ones.

Visit our art gallery and select a piece that speaks to you and your experiences.