I am glad that your artist worked out fine and as for the grieving thing.

I noticed that our society in general is not accustomed to grieving. I lost my guinea pig last year, I am aware of the fact that our losses cannot be compared by any measure, but when I was grieving I realized that my friends and even people I thought understood me were really confused how to react, despite the fact that I didn't expect anything from them. Just grieve as much as you need, it will get better, don't try to hide it from friends, that won't work, but it will get very slowly better. Good luck with grieving, it is a successful way to healing.