Mending a Heart, One Brushstroke at a Time

"Painting through tragedy, tears, illness, despair, regrets, fear, forgiveness, courage, survival, joy, hope, and healing. It is amazing how creative grief and love can be." SR Accetta

I have been a professional artist for nearly 50 years. After our daughter's unexpected death, I knew I had to force myself to keep painting. I quickly learned life does not stop when our hearts are shattered. At first, grief is an ocean that pulls you under. With time, it becomes a river that you learn to swim in. But the waves…they never stop coming. There is no amount of time, tears or words that can help explain what it feels like to lose a child. That is why there is no word in our language that can describe a bereaved parent. No matter how long it's been, there are times when I think of her, and it suddenly becomes harder to breathe.

I continue to paint. I paint heartbreak and pain. I paint the loss of rainbows. I paint suffocating fear, despair, brokenness, tears, emptiness, and the loss of everything I knew. All of the paintings were mixed with tears. As I navigated the nonlinear path of grief, God transformed this tragedy into a testimony. I am surviving. The scars on my heart radiate His divine glory. My paintings are witness to the love that survived.