On Becoming a Serial Finisher...

“Do not plan for ventures before finishing what’s at hand.”
- Euripides

Unknown to me before I found this quote was that Euripides trained as a painter in addition to being a playwright. Each January, we focus on New Year’s Resolutions, new beginnings and new projects. But then what happens? I myself have been guilty of starting projects and paintings, then leaving them unfinished. I think there are about seven unfinished paintings in my studio now. But, on the other hand, I often enjoy working this way, moving each project along, chipping away, making the painting better and better as long as I can see something to improve. Pierre Bonnard was said to have added strokes to his paintings even after they were installed on gallery walls.

Euripides wrote about the ordinary qualities of mythological heroes when faced with difficulties. Perhaps he can cut us ordinary humans some slack.

The painting above however, “Fairmount Theater II”, is finished. I shared an image of it, as a work in progress, in my April 2014 post “Work in Progress, and A Messy Studio”. It is part of the series “Sign Language.” It’s my second attempt at painting this movie theater in East Haven, Connecticut, this time in the warm morning light.

-Felice

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