Colors of the Sunset

Over the next several weeks, we are excited to feature the artwork alongside excerpts of the stories from the thirteen families that participated in our 2021 Give Grief a Voice cohort. 

The Give Grief a Voice project provides families who have lost a young child an artistic representation of their child’s life. A professional writer interviews the child’s family in order to ghostwrite the child’s story. Then, a commissioned artist turns the words of the story into a piece of art that the family keeps. 

Buzzy’s Bees fundraises to cover all costs for writing and art – there is no charge to participating families. Both the writers and artists are paid per story.

If you have suddenly or unexpectedly lost a young child (stillbirth – 12yo) and are interested in participating, please fill out an application here. If you are a writer or artist interested in being a part of the program, contact Kelly Tilford at kelly@buzzysbees.com. You can donate to the project here and see photos from the event we hosted for the families here


Colors of the Sunset
Colors of the Sunset
Artist: Vanessa Smith
Acrylic on wood panel, 24 x 24 inches


“All of our children have a color we associate with them. Evelyn is coral pink because that was the main color of her nursery. James is yellow because after the miscarriage I received many bouquets all with bright yellow tulips. Lilian is purple, even though she will tell you that her favorite color is blue. We’re lucky because when we look at a sunset, we can see our children saying hello from heaven.”

  – Evelyn June’s Mom