Is Pain Part of Creativity?

Despair, 16 x 16 cm, pigment pen and colour pencils on paper

Is pain part of creativity? It seems to be for me. Often, I begin creating a piece of art because I’m in psychological pain and it can transform that pain into healing. The drawing above began on the anniversary of my father’s suicide. Despair was what I was feeling and, somehow, I was able to tap into that feeling and watch it take shape on paper. By externalising it and writing in my journal about it, I could understand it more. I wrote a blog post about the beginning of this process.

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Connection versus Despair and the Winner is… Connection

Drawing despair – work in progress – pigment pen on paper
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Seeing is believing: how an expressive art grief ritual helped me gain clarity and strength

My expressive art ‘letter’ to my dad who killed himself 39 years ago.
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