Art and Grief
James usually sits quietly in a wheelchair in the lounge with us while we do creative things. He participates by watching. Though a vibrant and verbally expressive man at one time, he is now unable to talk much. Like many, he is grieving loss. His daughter died unexpectedly. The tears drop one by one.
I was starting to clean up the paint and put away the easels one evening. James was still there.
“Do you want to paint this time? No one is here and you can be on your own.” I explained to him that it didn’t have to be “something”. It could be emotions and colors. He could paint in the moment. That is what he did. He painted in the moment. He spent over an hour, painting and watching to see what the colors would do. He ended up with a nonobjective but very expressive painting.