Here is how I got through the grief this year of losing a dear friend. In the initial aftermath, there was so much sadness and shock and trauma. I’ve been through significant grief before, so I knew the drill. The only way out is through.

When I’m in a state where I’m unable to make decisions and just need something to get me through the next days, hours or minutes, I find it useful to have a really accessible project with very limited parameters.

This is the result. The parameters were:
1. Mark making in this book.
2. Monotone.

That was as much as I could handle. Getting out watercolours or acrylics, or working on sculpture, or doing collage was all too hard. With this project, I could just sit down, easily open the book, make no decisions about colour (but could vary media) and scribble through the grief.

Thank god I already have such a strong daily habit of in something as cathartic as art. This got me through.