ART WRITE HEAL Workshops

Almost 4 1/2 years ago, I began the grief journey after Kenny died. I did not want to go to therapy so I decided to go inward and heal myself. I used writing to do that. I had always used writing to express how I felt because it wasn’t always easy for me to say what I needed to say out loud. Writing allowed me to get it all out without someone interrupting me, either to tell me how I was feeling was wrong or to criticize me for what I was saying. Writing has also always been very cathartic for me and has helped me work through so many things in my life. I’m grateful for this tool and my knowledge of how to use it so well.

I wrote and published all of my writing on my other website www.LisaSaxton.com. There were around 51 posts that dealt with my grief process. I’m in the process of publishing all of those blog posts to my www.ArtWriteHeal.com website. I’ll publish them all in chronological order starting from the beginning. There is a pinned post at the top of the blog page on the website that tells how the writing came about. That post can be found here-

https://artwriteheal.com/?p=394

It will take a bit of time to post everything but it will get done. Lots of work still to be done on the website.

The first blog post I wrote after Kenny died is called “Go do the thing…..”. I published it just nine days after he died. That post is all about regret, which is something that’s still hard to live with to this day. All the woulda, shoulda, coulda’s sneak up on you more often than I care for them too. You can read that first blog here-

https://artwriteheal.com/?p=398

What a lovely group of vendors at the Wellness Resource Fair at Rawls Museum Arts this past weekend! This was a great event that provided the community with lots of resources and information on health and wellness and I am honored to have been a part of it. Hoping Rawls has this event again next year! 😊

Today was absolutely amazing. It was the opening day for the Renewal – The Art of Healing exhibit at Rawls Museum Arts in Courtland. The building was packed full of people that came out to see all the amazing art lining the walls of the gallery.

I found my four pieces of art displayed together & stood there in front of it wondering if this was really real—that art I created was actually hanging on the wall of a gallery surrounded by the company of so many other artists. I stood there for a while, feeling so many emotions…from sadness that Kenny wasn’t here to see it hanging on the wall, to pure elation that I’d actually accomplished this…..at 59 years old.

As I walked around & looked at each piece I was overwhelmed at the dedication the artists poured into each of their creations. Reading the artists statements about their artwork gave me an INNERstanding of the pain they had gone through that birthed their pieces of art. It was like finding a giant roomful of kindred spirits who had the same intimate knowledge of grief that I had.

I talked with some of the artists who shared more about their artwork & the events that facilitated them creating it. Being able to hear their stories of what happened to them or a loved one gave more meaning to each piece. I talked with people looking at my art & told them how it came about. I shared how I transmuted my own grief into a purpose & created my ART+WRITE+HEAL workshops to help others heal from their emotional pain & grief.

As I sit here & write this I still can’t believe all this has happened, but it has, & I could not be more grateful. I’m also proud of myself….proud that I didn’t let the darkness of the grief I crawled through after Kenny’s death to wholly consume me, but instead rose back up like the Phoenix who rises up from the fire & ashes to be reborn again.

Opening day Renewal - The Art of Healing 🎨