Artist Shares Heartbreaking Miscarriage Sketch to Remind Other Parents They Are Not Alone in Grief

An artist’s heartbreaking sketch painfully details his recent family tragedy.

Curtis Wiklund’s drawings of his everyday family life went viral earlier this year charming many online. However his latest piece, entitled “Miscarriage,” takes an entirely different path. As can be construed from the title, the sketch depicts the moment Wiklund and wife Jordin learned that she had miscarried after nine weeks of pregnancy.

The drawing depicts the couple in their car, arms wrapped around each other following the devastating doctor’s visit. The rest of the world continues on around them, oblivious to their loss.

Wiklund explained the real life inspiration for the piece.

“As soon as we got to the car, both of us started crying and were pretty heartbroken,” Wiklund said. “It was pure grief. It was no bitterness, no irritation. Not madness at each other. It was mutual, shared, 100 percent grief and crying and sadness.”

The Wiklunds, together since high school and coworkers in wedding photography, have two young sons. Both were hoping their third pregnancy would bring a daughter, and were crushed at the baby’s loss.

“It wasn’t a fictitious loss. It was our daughter, who was very much there earlier and we had just lost her,” Wiklund said.

Wiklund, yearning to express his feelings, took pencil to paper and sketched out the moment. He explained, “We were both kind of numb and in shock and for some reason drawing felt like an outlet for me. It felt therapeutic to sit down and reflect on what was happening. That was all I could see. I wanted to somehow get the feeling of grief out onto paper.”

From there, Wiklund shared the image on Instagram and Facebook, hoping to encourage others who’ve gone through loss to speak about it.

“I hope by sharing it, those others out there who are quietly hurting, some far worse than we are, are comforted knowing at least, that you are not alone,” he wrote in part.

The image has garnered likes and shares from hundreds of people by emotionally connecting with them. These include Jordin Wiklund herself.

“It is so real and it does, in a very sad, beautiful way, capture the fact that we did have each other in that moment and I am so thankful for that,” she said. “That will be the image for me that defines that moment.”