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Mione Plant

Art Letters

March 7, 2024

A complex process, a series of twists and turns, and even a set of formulas - eventually my son taught me to put every square in it’s place. The mess at the beginning, revealing it’s order. Epically satisfying.

Six separate colors, functioning independently and interdependently. Individual and cohesive.

What would happen then when I ventured out to create about the six separate members in my family - including my family of origin and created family? Unsurprisingly but somehow still unexpected, not the order of a solved Rubik’s cube.

I asked each of the six members of my family - mom, dad, brother, husband, son, and myself - to pick three patterns they liked most from the book The Power of Pattern. My plan - to have three options for each person, then select one pattern to represent each family member that would be the most cohesive collectively.

The best laid plans…

Seeing the patterns they picked, I’m glad I asked for their input rather than selecting my own interpretation of their pattern as I did in the painting, Candor. Each selection pleasantly surprised me. Different than what I would have picked. Cooler. Truer.

After stressing over the first outlines in pencil, wanting to get everything just so, I decided to it best to paint free-hand. It felt more in sync with my mom and nature.

Her pattern selection feels particularly poignant - last year we read the book, The Island of Missing Trees, featuring a personified fig tree. Also reminiscent of the first thing we planted in my garden together.

I had a hard time picking a single pattern - I could see so many versions of myself represented in the pattern book - but landed on one I felt blended my cultural heritage - Croatian and Iranian.

I decided to “artist-choice” it with the addition of neon pink in the center leaves to make it particularly personal. Impatience drifted away as I lingered through the hours each vine, each leaf, each dot wanted to take.

Vulnerability made itself very known as I took scissors to the newly completed linen canvas.

My husband and I, cradling our son.

Each pattern, cut into tiny strips to be woven.

The patterns painted and strips cut, I could finally execute my vision of weaving the six patterns together.

But then it all went to shit.

The beautiful story in my mind of each person, each pattern overlapping and weaving seamlessly with one another crashed. Nothing mixed and everything clashed. It felt chaotic and noisy. There wasn’t enough negative space or breathing room, especially given some of the bold personalities, I mean, patterns.

I sat back and studied it. And then some more. I got out my journal, asking what it needed, why it wasn’t working?

Why couldn’t I make this pattern fit better with that? Could I make yet another attempt? What could I fix to turn this into something beautiful in the end, something that made sense?

And then it hit.

The need to orchestrate everyone’s patterns… Do I even have that kind of power? Or responsibility? Is it within my control?

The only pattern I have control over is my own. How I choose to weave with the others.

I walked over to the weaving, and gently removed my family’s patterns from the warp. I kept my own.

The wave of relief releasing responsibility of the other patterns, and focusing where my true responsibility lies. Suddenly (slo mo edition) it all came together.

 
 

SOUL CONTRACTS
25 x 49 Acrylic on Linen, Woven and Mounted on Wood Panel
Mont Art House

 SOUL CONTRACTS 
 

Thank you for personally connecting with me through this work. May all your contracts be fulfilled, perfect in their time.

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Mione Plant, 7853 La Cosa Dr, Dallas, United States

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