Comments on: Grief And Art – Using Art-Making To Deal With My Sadness And Anger https://www.howtopastel.com/2018/01/grief-and-art/ Info, opinion, and training on how to pastel with artist Gail Sibley BFA, MA Tue, 11 Feb 2025 03:59:10 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=6.7.2 By: Masters – Week 27 – Jeremy Majoe https://www.howtopastel.com/2018/01/grief-and-art/#comment-61592 Tue, 11 Feb 2025 03:59:10 +0000 http://www.howtopastel.com/?p=8268#comment-61592 […] https://www.howtopastel.com/2018/01/grief-and-art/ […]

]]> By: Gail Sibley https://www.howtopastel.com/2018/01/grief-and-art/#comment-61030 Sat, 11 Jan 2025 20:39:41 +0000 http://www.howtopastel.com/?p=8268#comment-61030 In reply to Claire Agnew.

Ahh Claire, no black belt required!! I think using your art-making to release emotions is healthy and healing. Remember, there is no audience but you. I did my piece fully expecting it never to see the light of day. Yes I did capture it as it happened but that is a habit that’s ingrained in me! And it was fortuntae as I was then able to write this blog post. The thing is to use art – scribbles, splashes, whatever, to let out emotion. This is a PROCESS! There is no thought of outcome. In fact, I have burned art done this way as part of the healing and also ritual around it. So go on, let loose!
And, yes, materials can be frustrating and I’d love to know how you express that emotion!

]]> By: Claire Agnew https://www.howtopastel.com/2018/01/grief-and-art/#comment-60819 Wed, 01 Jan 2025 05:37:24 +0000 http://www.howtopastel.com/?p=8268#comment-60819 Visiting your writing and the process several years later. Thank you for capturing the process in so much detail. I have wondered about expressing emotion through my art more but I think it’s pastelist black belt level. I have been known to express frustration with materials (watercolour, never pastel!) which is no where near as nuanced :-\

]]> By: Gail Sibley https://www.howtopastel.com/2018/01/grief-and-art/#comment-58646 Fri, 07 Jun 2024 21:21:12 +0000 http://www.howtopastel.com/?p=8268#comment-58646 In reply to Contextual Review (Week 12) – Jeremy Majoe.

Thank you for featuring and examining my work and for using it as an example!

]]> By: Contextual Review (Week 12) – Jeremy Majoe https://www.howtopastel.com/2018/01/grief-and-art/#comment-58566 Mon, 03 Jun 2024 02:49:09 +0000 http://www.howtopastel.com/?p=8268#comment-58566 […]             Teintes Touch (white), 14 x 20 3/4 in. 2018 https://www.howtopastel.com/2018/01/grief-and-art/ […]

]]> By: Gail Sibley https://www.howtopastel.com/2018/01/grief-and-art/#comment-57243 Sun, 17 Mar 2024 04:06:37 +0000 http://www.howtopastel.com/?p=8268#comment-57243 In reply to Nancy.

Dear Nancy, thank you for such a beautiful and heartfelt response to my post about grief and art. Thank you for sharing your own way – watercolour on YUPO paper – and reminding us of the quiet way of art to help us grieve and express our feelings. And I thank you deeply for the last paragraph. Thank you.

]]> By: Nancy https://www.howtopastel.com/2018/01/grief-and-art/#comment-57231 Sat, 16 Mar 2024 20:37:45 +0000 http://www.howtopastel.com/?p=8268#comment-57231 Dear Gail,
Yes, we have been given a rare gift, a source of both joy and comfort for those who most need it. Art can be healing. I found that watercolor on YUPO perfectly expressed my grief and fear, loss beyond measuring. It is immediate – and tears make their mark on it. It is quieter than screaming wildly like an tormented animal. That helps, too, but we don’t want to scare the neighbors and the kiddies, or our pets. When we do not have the words, art becomes a prayer.
The pain that you feel makes you capable of being touched by the deep sorrow that all people feel at times. It is a gift, a sign of our humanity. It is what compels us to share our hearts with one another and makes it possible to forgive what seems beyond forgiveness.
You were created to be loved. I hope that you know that, and find the greatest comfort in it. nv

]]> By: Gail Sibley https://www.howtopastel.com/2018/01/grief-and-art/#comment-56078 Tue, 09 Jan 2024 06:43:07 +0000 http://www.howtopastel.com/?p=8268#comment-56078 In reply to Robyn.

Ohhhh Robyn, I’m so sorry to hear of your loss. Grief takes time yet I’m glad to hear you have found a way to get back to your art-making. It’s a wonderful place to get lost in for awhile. I hope it will bring you not only some respite from the world but also allow you to let your feelings out. It’s a marvellous way to move through them.

]]> By: Robyn https://www.howtopastel.com/2018/01/grief-and-art/#comment-55827 Sat, 23 Dec 2023 23:49:47 +0000 http://www.howtopastel.com/?p=8268#comment-55827 In reply to Gail Sibley.

I have only discovered this revealing and wonderful post. Thank you for sharing. As I was so intimately involved in the palliative care of my husband ( of 25 loving years) after his passing on early this year , I have been to exhausted to undertake the necessary grief process through my art. My art room had become his “ward” and I have only recently been able to go in there and dissemble it. But now I have relocated all materials to another space, and you have inspired me to pick up my pastels again. Happy Christmas .

]]> By: Gail Sibley https://www.howtopastel.com/2018/01/grief-and-art/#comment-53906 Wed, 20 Sep 2023 17:29:53 +0000 http://www.howtopastel.com/?p=8268#comment-53906 In reply to Kelly Borsheim.

Kelly, many thanks for your comment and commiserations. I’m so glad that it resonated with you. I wonder if you speak from your own personal experience or doing work in art therapy? And yeah, it’s funny how the recording habit is there. I never actually thought I’d do anything with it and yet from it came a powerful post that has touched many.
Thank you! And…your sculptures are amazing. Get well soon!

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