“Little Women ”Producer Denise Di Novi Shares How Painting Helped Her 'Heal' After Husband's Death (Exclusive)

"It came from a very deep place ... and then it just became something I have to do," says Di Novi, whose first-ever art exhibition opens Aug. 10

Movie producer Denise Di Novi has no shortage of credits to her name, but four years ago, she picked up a new hobby that quickly morphed into something meaningful to her: painting.

Speaking with PEOPLE ahead of her first-ever art exhibition, the longtime filmmaker — who counts Heathers, Edward Scissorhands, Little Women, Practical Magic and more among her producing projects — says she started dabbling with "mosaic pencil and marker drawings" three days after the death of her husband, Scott Farrow, in 2020.

"They were almost like a meditation that focused my brain," says Di Novi, 68.

But, she adds, she soon "felt like [she wanted] to do something bigger," and needed "more expression."

So she went to an art store in Laguna Beach, California, that was owned by her next-door neighbor, "and he let me get some canvases and acrylic paint, and it became a lot more almost physical and expressive for me," she says.

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Related: Sharon Stone on Getting Back Into Painting and Her Passion for Art: 'I Re-Found My Heart'

"And it was still kind of a meditation," Di Novi adds. "I would just let go into this altered state and paint for hours and hours all day, and sometimes all night. I think it did something for my brain chemistry, and I just tapped into something with it."

She admits that she "had never taken a class," "painted one thing" or even "drawn a circle" before getting into art following her husband's death during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic.

"It came from a very deep place, which I think all art does, but [mine] is abstract, it is expressionist, and then it just became something I have to do," Di Novi tells PEOPLE.

She also says that while she's nervous about her upcoming exhibition, she's no stranger to vulnerability through her producing background — specifically, the "philosophy of, you create something, you put it out into the world and you cannot control people's reactions or predict."

"I think all art should be shared," she adds. "It's part of the organic process, but it doesn't always happen. But I really wanted to share it because I think we are so just in the dark ages in our culture in terms of grief. I think we've gone backwards in history in terms of how people deal with grief."

Related: How Author Nora McInerny Learned to Live with Her Grief When a World of 'Toxic Positivity' Tried to Erase It

In fact, Di Novi believes that the common grieving method of attempting "to just stay busy and move forward" actually renders the process "much more difficult."

"I just want to share that there is that expression and holding that, and finding creative outlet can heal you, and you can move forward," continues the producer, whose latest screen project, the spy-thriller miniseries The Veil starring Elisabeth Moss, aired this past spring on Hulu.

And Di Novi thinks the late Farrow, whom she remembers as a "very deep, spiritual person" would be "really proud of" her upcoming art-exhibition debut.

"He was always really proud me of whenever I had a movie come out, and I think that he would be so happy that something beautiful came from his passing," she adds.

Di Novi's exhibition, titled PORTAL, will hold an opening Artists Reception on Aug. 10 from 4 to 6 p.m. PT at The Honarkar Foundation Gallery in Laguna Beach. The exhibition runs through Sept. 14.

For more information, visit thehonarkarfoundation.org.

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