Expansive: One Nemesis Painting Vanquished

I've been writing fiction for a couple of decades, so I'm used to the concept of a story idea that insists on being written...but not that way. Or that way. Really, you're doing that with the character? I've known several nemesis stories in my time, and I keep working away at them, knowing I'll get the story out the way it wants to get out eventually.

I should have expected that nemesis paintings existed.

Sometimes I get a fully formed concept of what I want to paint, and the canvas (or paper) complies. Sometimes I know what colors I want to play with and how I want them to move and shift, and the experimentation generates a result that clicks with me as a finished piece. Sometimes the initial product gives a "not fully cooked" vibe, and I'll happily set it aside for things to mature on their own, typically a few weeks or maybe months.

And then there are other times, when I have a fully formed concept of what I want to paint, the colors I want to play with and how I want them to move, and a "not fully cooked" vibe morphs into something more antagonistic. It taunts me, teasing with a vague sense of "not quite right" no matter what I try. Other times it can be more directly confrontational, feeling like every misstep is writ large on the canvas, mocking not just me but the very concepts of art and creativity.

Expansive is my first nemesis painting. I started with a particular idea for it. In May of 2023, I completed the initial fluid art pour and realized that my idea had not materialized the way I expected. I stenciled in the silver foil details a few months later, but that still didn't get to anything my creative side considered "done."

I sat with the painting for a while, probably about a year, trying to figure out how to get back on track with this canvas. The initial idea of the intersecting pink lines came, but my first execution of them was 100% wrong. I wiped that attempt off the canvas as best I could and (gently) shoved the canvas into my stack of "not quite done yet" projects.

It stayed there for nearly two more years until I finally decided to try again in early January this year. I got the pink lines right this time, but I could still feel an unfinished nature to the piece. This time, I only needed another week or so before the idea to add in the alkyd oil drops with glittery outlines landed. Once those went on the canvas, finally the painting felt complete.

The original nemesis painting had been conquered. Started in May 2023, finishing in January 2026. Two others have emerged since then. Paintings that linger in my work-in-progress pile and seem to snicker at me when I look their way. I haven't yet fully painted over or (worse) tossed a nemesis painting. I'm quite young in my artist journey, though. I'm sure there will come a day when I seriously contemplate it, if only to keep the never-to-be-finished nemesis novel draft company.