I recently lost my sister to cancer. The emotions I felt were like nothing I had ever experienced. Both of my parents have passed and the grief I felt was far different than when they died. As an artist, I realized the only way I could process this new grief was to visualize it. The 5 Stages of Grief series was born. I painted one painting a day for five days. I discovered I was completely exhausted after I completed the last one.

If you are a therapist or a grief counselor and you’re looking for artwork to convey grief, you might want to consider this collection. If you have more than one patient, I would recommend purchasing prints instead of the original. You can find prints available on both my Saatchi page and my ArtPal page.

After bargaining, our attention moves squarely into the present. Empty feelings present themselves, and grief enters our lives on a deeper level, deeper than we ever imagined. This depressive stage feels as though it will last forever. It’s important to understand that this depression is not a sign of mental illness. It is the appropriate response to a great loss. We withdraw from life, left in a fog of intense sadness, wondering, perhaps, if there is any point in going on alone? Why go on at all? Depression after a loss is too often seen as unnatural: a state to be fixed, something to snap out of. The first question to ask yourself is whether or not the situation you’re in is actually depressing. The loss of a loved one is a very depressing situation, and depression is a normal and appropriate response. To not experience depression after a loved one dies would be unusual. When a loss fully settles in your soul, the realization that your loved one didn’t get better this time and is not coming back is understandably depressing. If grief is a process of healing, then depression is one of the many necessary steps along the way.

Source: Grief.com