Art Letters from Mione

Art Letters

March 21, 2023

Running into a friend at Starbucks, she asked what I was working on. “Nothing,” I exhaled. “I’m in this uncomfortable in-between. I've just finished a painting - which feels great - but now I really want to get started on something new, but I don’t know what it is.” Later, on her way out, she lovingly wished me energy to get out of my funk.

I realized this has happened before. In fact, every time. Each completed painting comes with a deep, soul-felt satisfaction, yet it’s followed soon after by a tension, an urge, a need to begin again. Normally, I don’t allow myself time to gather, or my ideas time to simmer. I get started right away. This however, is often followed by painting over days or even weeks’ worth of work, when the concept fails. When the idea isn’t done cooking yet.

What if I could get into my funk? What if I could embrace this awkward waiting stage, this negative space? To revel in the funk.

Art and design benefit largely from the use of negative space. A moment for the eye to rest. A calm balance to the dynamic elements. Could I find the positive within this negative space of not doing?

I didn’t know it would take another three weeks for the idea to finally emerge.

I also didn’t know that it would become the most calming, meditative and nurturing painting experience I’ve had to date.

Negative space. Negative?

There’s nothing negative in negative space.

Late last year, I had the opportunity to lead a school-wide art project at a local elementary school. (Above you can see their response when asked to raise their hand if they’re Artists! I hope you’ll remind your own inner-child too.)

Later, I instructed each student to fold a sheet of paper in half, and over the course of the next month to complete two very different sides. One side would be a series of straight lines, black and white. The other, a flow of curving swaying lines, all color. I wanted to share with them the concept of duality - that there are multiple sides within us and often they are opposites. When these opposites combine, we see the complexity and beauty found within.

When I returned to visit, my chest filled with light seeing the culmination of their work (above a sampling of 100 students, the other 460 artworks proudly lining their hallways).

Arapaho Classical Magnet Artists, thank you for inspiring me to create the following work!

My first painting to utilize a linen canvas - the natural tone chosen to create the ideal negative space, or counterpoint to the bold colors. It also feels softer and gentler on the eye than the contrast a white canvas would provide.

I began with the black and gray portion of the painting, consisting of multiple sections of three parallel lines, varying in length and distance. As I’ve found in other works, starting with the structural elements of a work calms my left brain and makes space for my right to start to play.

The beginnings of a message, a personal reminder, forming within the lines.

Next, the beginning of the color sections. To allow myself the most freedom, I simply let my hand move at will, without plan, creating its own marks that I’d later determine how to color in. Each triangle become its own color study, the opportunity to experiment with multiple color ways. Perhaps the color foundation of future paintings to come.

I noticed as I worked across weeks through more of the color sections (60 in total), that my hand - and head - started to shift. My marks became slower, more lengthy, calmer. I also found myself craving negative space within the color blocks. I started introducing neutral winter (the OG of negative space) - inspired color elements.

I hope you’ll enjoy looking for, and experimenting with, the message tucked within.

NOTHING NEGATIVE IN NEGATIVE SPACE
60x36 Acrylic on Linen
mioneplant.com

SHOP THIS WORK

Thank you for personally connecting with me through this work. You thrive - even, especially - in negative space.

BROWSE PAINTINGS FOR THE HOME

WATCH THE TEDx TALK

READ PAST ART LETTERS