Join us on May 25th | 1–3 PM | Boulder Main Library, Arapahoe Room

A Gentle Space to Return To

As the season shifts into late spring, Brush With Grief returns to the Arapahoe Room at the Boulder Public Library. On Saturday, May 25th from 1:00–3:00 PM, we invite you to join us in this space where grief can be honored, expressed, and witnessed. Whether you’ve attended before or are new to the group, there is always room for you.

Each session includes grounding practices, time outdoors to gather natural materials, and hands-on brushmaking using fur, wood, and sinew. We then create ink paintings that allow us to connect with grief in symbolic, embodied ways. You don’t need to be an artist. What matters is showing up—to the materials, to the moment, and to yourself.

Grief doesn’t need to be explained to be valid. Whether your losses stem from death, family estrangement, climate grief, aging, transitions in identity, or the slow drip of unspoken sorrow—this is a place to bring it, just as it is.

Ways to Get to Know Your Grief

This month’s theme, getting to know your grief, invites us into relationship with something we often try to ignore. We approach grief not as something to fix or move past, but as something to meet.

Here are some practices you might try during the session:

• Write to your grief. Give it a voice. Let it write to you—or from you. Don’t censor what it says.
• Draw its landscape. If your grief were a place, what would it look like? Use brush and ink to explore it.
• Honor your body. Choose a gesture—rocking, holding, breathing—and repeat it slowly. Let your grief speak through movement.
• Describe its weather. Does your grief feel like rain? Wind? A storm on the horizon? Weather it with metaphor.
• Make it visible. Let your handmade brush move freely. What shape, pressure, or stroke matches what you feel?

Each of these approaches is optional. You can also sit quietly, journal privately, or simply walk and breathe. The goal is not to produce something but to be in process—honest, unhurried, and curious.

You’re Welcome Here

Brush With Grief is not a clinical group, but it is a therapeutic one. It’s not a formal support circle, but it offers real connection. What makes it powerful is the simple act of being present with yourself and others, without pressure to perform or explain.

This workshop is offered at no cost, and all materials are provided. Donations are appreciated to help fund future free events and supplies. Every brush made, every mark on the page, every quiet moment shared helps build a culture where grief is welcomed, not hidden.

If you’re curious—come. If you’re hurting—come. If you just want to sit and see—come. You don’t have to speak. You don’t have to understand your grief before arriving.

Let this be a place where you begin to meet it. Register at contemplativecaregiver.com or simply show up.