Painting, Life & Dying: The Beauty of Letting Go
As I was working through my latest painting, I found myself experiencing a range of emotions in my body. Holding my breath, belly filled with butterflies, laughter, wide-eyed, fear, worry and then joyful release of jumping in and finding out what will come next. In this artist era I am embracing the lessons refined from death and dying. Moving through with less judgment and more faith. This painting, in particular, had me contemplate the ways in which art and painting might be like the process of life and death.
The process of painting and the journey of life through death share many profound parallels, all rooted in transformation, surrender, faith, and the passage of time. A painting begins with a blank canvas, an open space full of potential. Similarly, life begins with possibility and unfolds over time. The act of painting is an ongoing process of seeing, layering, refining, and sometimes even erasing and reworking. Our life is an evolution of experiences, growth, and change. We always have the ability to start fresh in our life. In the dying process, there is almost an unravelling of these layers, a return to our essence.
Both art and dying require an openness to the unknown. As I am painting, I always have my reference photos and my thumbnail sketches, I have a plan, but throughout the process I have to be willing to detach from the outcome and make peace with the necessary changes and accidents along the way. Colours might blend, the composition may end up differently then I envisioned. Similarly, both life and death can often feel like an unknown transition, one that requires us to release control, holding faith in what comes next, even if we can’t fully see it. In painting, there are often mistakes that eventually become part of the final piece. As an artist, I have learned to lean into these imperfections, letting them shape the work rather than fighting against them.
In the dying process, there is a similar need to accept the imperfections of life. When regrets, unfinished business, and unresolved pain are allowed to be part of our whole story rather than something we resist, death comes with a greater sense of ease for all. A painting is an artist’s way of expressing emotion, experience, and perspective. Each stroke, color, and composition tells a story.
The process of dying is also a form of expression—how someone chooses to face it, what they share in their final moments, the legacy they leave behind. The way a painting remains as a testament to the artist’s existence mirrors how a person’s impact lingers beyond their physical presence. Every painting reaches a moment when you step back and decide it is complete. Rarely do we feel it’s perfect, but it is complete.
You see, life, death and painting are more similar than you might have anticipated. To enjoy life, to live it fully it takes faith, flow and surrender. The same necessary qualities it takes to approach death. There comes a point in the dying process where there is nothing more to add, nothing more to change—just the quiet acceptance that it is time to let go of this life, this human experience.
Both art and dying are deeply personal, yet universal experiences. They teach us about beauty, impermanence, and the necessity of both effort and surrender.
We all leave something behind: a presence, a story, a mark upon the world. What will yours be?
