Music is a big part of my life and has been for as long as I can remember. I always have music playing. I'm listening to music as I write this.
I've found endless comfort in the music that connects me to the person I lost. Bruce Springsteen specifically has seen me through some pretty dark moments in the nearly three years since my loss.
When I first picked up a paintbrush in an attempt to heal, there wasn't any music playing because I was painting with my mom. We have different tastes and we usually chat when we're together. And when I listen to music, I like to be completely immersed in it.
Something magical happened when I started painting with music on. Suddenly the two artforms that had helped me most with sitting with and processing my grief were working together. Pieces I was making started taking on the characteristics of songs that would come on while I was painting and another layer of meaning would develop for me.
When you see a painting in my Music Moves Me collection, consider listening to the song it's named for and thinking about people you miss, whether they've passed or exited your life in some other way.
It's important to spend time in our feelings of sadness and yearning and longing. These real emotions are all part of the act of love.