I recently connected with a woman who creates captivating memorial artwork and shares it freely with grieving parents.

Cecielia is a mom who knows the pain of loss. Four years ago she gave birth to twin boys, and only one was living. Sweet Jeremiah was born sleeping.

Any parent who has experienced such a loss knows the grief that comes with it is all-encompassing and deep. The grief can engulf you so fully that as a result it seems impossible to see a future, function daily, or believe you will ever feel joy again. Grief sucks you in, whispering lies to you that create feelings such as guilt, anger, doubt, and fear. Finding a way to quiet your thoughts seems impossible. However, finding an avenue to express and process trauma is the first step toward relief and continued resilience.

For Cecielia, that avenue was art.

She had always enjoyed visual arts, but only recently took up watercolor. For Cecielia, this was a perfect match. She explained that painting allowed her to express depths of sadness and pain she couldn’t with words.

I asked her how she makes space for this personal time where she can express herself and her emotions. As a busy mother of four (three living) children, she has to make time after they are tucked into bed in the evenings. These evening painting sessions often run late into the night as she becomes entranced in the process. “it brings me a sense of peace when I’m painting” says Cecelia. And at first, that space of peace was the only place where she felt okay. Not in pain, not in joy, but somewhere in the middle. “Peace”; some might call it solace.

Moving Forward

Recently, Cecielia has begun to move away from expressing her pain and focus more on expressing her dreams and desires. She enjoys creating images of how she imagines her baby, Jeremiah, the beauty she is starting to recognize around her, and even feelings of joy and hope.

Cecielia offers some of her artwork for free as digital files, in the hope that grieving parents might find comfort in them. She also offers her custom art to grieving families at reduced rates, charging for supplies and donating her time and talents as a healing gift. She additionally offers embellished prints and other items with her artwork on them.