Art Letters from Mione

Art Letters

July 13, 2022

It hit me that unknowingly I’ve been journeying through the five stages of grief. Not due to the loss of a loved one, but the loss of a relationship as I had previously known it and as I’d wished it would become.

As I’ve been adjusting personal mindsets and behaviors, the relationship - not one I’m willing to let go of - has naturally experienced a shift. My way of operating in the relationship no longer satisfactory. A change necessary. Not a change prescribed to someone else, but to myself.

You’ve witnessed this slow (but I remind myself “we are always perfect in time”) shift through my recent works:

First, through exercising boundaries,

then seeing the issues and my role in it clearly,

then recovering a sense of emotional safety,

and eventually self-validation.

And now, I journey into acceptance.

What does acceptance look like? What does it feel like?

Psychologist Caitlin Stanaway describes it this way:

How do I build on this and translate visually this evolving personal experience of acceptance?

The path…

I wanted to build on the work I did in Validation is for Parking, by creating a custom hand-cut diptych (two piece) canvas, but this time rather than a smooth edge shared by the two panels, I wanted them to interlock. To pull and to push, to receive and to give, to yield and to assert, to stand alone and to unite.

I began by creating a model out of paper that could be applied - through my beloved ratio calculations - to the large wood canvases.

Translating my model to two large wood panels, sanded and gesso’d, with the initial layer of paint applied. You’ll notice how the color selection and even the orientation of the painting evolves throughout the process. The vision I set out with always shifts in the final product. And it’s always better for it. The creation of art/life the union of vision and setbacks.

The jigsaw returns with new challenges as I build my largest wood canvas to date.

After further sanding and painting, next the application of high gloss resin.

…to acceptance

The angles and blocks of color are chosen to mimic two birds. The right bird in flight in the sky. The left bird initially on the ground.

You’ll notice the two triangles at the bottom of each panel. The bird on the right, in alignment with herself. Seeking not to surpass or fly above the other bird. Accepting of not having, not needing the upper hand. Grateful to join her friend in flight with self respect and acceptance.

The bird on the left, my reminder to move towards accepting things as they are. To no longer try to fix the other person or the relationship, to allow it be. To dance as we currently are. To root myself so I can take flight.

ACCEPDANCE

ACCEPDANCE
60 x 44 Diptych
Acrylic and Resin on Wood

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