Art Nouveau Women

These are two new watercolor paintings with an Art Nouveau theme. I really love Alfonse Mucha's work and always wanted to paint some flower haired ladies of my own. These two are available as prints at my Etsy store.

©Sam Nagel (artwork not for use or altering in any way)

Drawing Time

Reminding myself I can still draw with a real pencil. I've been doing too much digital work and felt like I was loosing my touch. I left my sketch lines in these, didn't do any cleaning up this time. I also have been using some old watercolor pencils that I've let go unused for years... it also makes me be more confident in my mark making since there is no erasing with them.

watercolor pencils in sketchbook

©Sam Nagel

Subconscious

©Sam Nagel

I've been trying to get away from the red and yellow color scheme that I use so much, and actually started this painting out in green. But obviously the warm colors prevailed once again... I love it. Green just wasn't good enough, so I used a darker moody purple instead. I based this painting off of a mandala I drew with pastels a few months ago. It's a simple drawing, but probably one of my favorites because of the spirals... I doodle spirals on everything. If I have a pen in hand I am scribbling a spiral somewhere... it must be cathartic.

See the meaning of this card and others at: Intimacy Without Responsibility -The Conscious Evolution of Love  facebook page

Painted in Photoshop with a tablet

Together

©Sam Nagel

This is another card for the IWR deck... about 3 hours of painting. I was getting tired of the style I've been creating in lately. Decided to continue pushing myself to paint more directly in photoshop rather than being so unsure about my brushstrokes. I think I'm finally gaining the confidence I want when it comes to painting digitally... but it sure is taking me a long time. Why traditional painting is still easier for me, is a huge mystery... my level of confidence in painting with oils, acrylics and watercolor, where there is no 'undo' command is still sky high compared to the digital mediums. It certainly has a different feel.

See the meaning of this card and others at: Intimacy Without Responsibility -The Conscious Evolution of Love  facebook page

Ephemeral Gaze

©Sam Nagel

This painting started out as kind of a rough pencil drawing. I didn't bother to clean up the pencil much at all and painted right on top of it in photoshop. Some of the traditional linework is still visible in the digital version. I had fun painting in a messy and careless way... sometimes that's the best way to do it. Took me about 2.5 hours.

©Sam Nagel (not for use or altering in any way) thanks for looking!

Autumn

©Sam Nagel

I finally drew in my sketchbook. Seriously does not happen often enough, but I realize that my pencil drawing is so much better than trying to use the tablet. Even though it takes a little extra time and more steps to complete, I think this is the way I will go about painting from now on.

See the meaning of this card and others at: Intimacy Without Responsibility -The Conscious Evolution of Love  facebook page

pencil + photoshop

Growth

©Sam Nagel

Is it new life or weeds? Do I let this grow, root and mature, or pluck it and change my surroundings? We decide what we want.

photoshop cs5

Mind Circuit

I blasted this one out today... started with a sketch that turned into an entire painting, funny how that happens. Thanks for looking!

See the meaning of this card and others at: Intimacy Without Responsibility -The Conscious Evolution of Love  facebook page

tools: photoshop cs5, intuos 3

©Sam Nagel (not for use or altering in any way)

Aaron's Girls

the latest commission... I combined my beach painting style with my portraiture painting. It's probably one of the largest paintings I've done so far... 20x36" (I don't normally paint very big)

oil on canvas 20x36"

©Sam Nagel

available for commissions, email me at: sam_sgn@hotmail.com

Digital Portrait

Practice painting in photoshop... I got a new computer and can finally paint in Photoshop without waiting for it to catch up. I've been wanting to try a digital painting without the crutch of so much linework, but on my old mac something like that was not worth the frustration. So finally tonight I decided to paint something for myself, not work related or commission, just to see what I can do... not bad for first try... I think I will be sketching like this more often. I love my new computer!

tools: NEW macbook pro! yeah!! ...photoshop CS5, intous 3

Pet Portraits

 

Come to think of it, I think these are my first dog paintings ever... huh, wow. Well, these two are commissioned pet portraits that came out pretty awesome in my opinion :P ...I will take better photos in a few days once the oil has dried up some, the green one is at an angle because the glare was awful straight on. I posted some of my progress, because I always like to see other artist's work in progress I think it's cool to share mine. The first progress shot are both prob 15 min each of painting. The second pic is at about half finish.

The white dog was pretty easy to paint, which I thought was going to be the more difficult one... turned out I was like wtf I am doing? the whole time I painted the black dog, lol. Not until the very end did I feel like I pulled it all together... even turned the lights off to paint through the 'speed bump' I encountered, it was like painting color blind... not sure I recommend that, but it helped me loosen up and get back into it.

Thanks for looking!

18x18" oil on canvas

Many Moons

Isn't it just so nice? being old? ... I don't know. Anyway, I am allowing myself to be more loose in my brushstrokes and keep going until it works. I'm really diggin the red glow... I had to stop myself from over doing it. ...and uh, I know that normally you can't see the dark side of the moon, but thought I would throw in that little twist.

See the meaning of this card and others at: Intimacy Without Responsibility -The Conscious Evolution of Love  facebook page

tools: photoshop cs4, intuos3

©Sam Nagel

Couples Love

So I've been working on cards with couples, since it is all about intimacy and stuff... yeah... it's about time. I still feel sort of immature about it, like a 10 year boy thinking ewww they're gonna kiss, gross. The word intimacy still rubs me the wrong way... But I'm getting over it. I really like these so far... and what I'm drawing is kind of the feeling of my ideal relationship, lovey dovey easy breezy chillaxin in the wind, ahhh.... love.

okay so on the technical side of things, the top is the cleaned up version of the sketch below it. The bottom one linework is final except the wind part... I think i'm going to paint that out, rather than keeping it line.

~photoshop
©Samantha Nagel

The Alchemy of Perception

Another photoshop painting... this one was quick and easy for me. I'm trying to tone it down on the detail considering these are going to be printed as cards. I love the subject matter of this one, and had to draw a mind of gears. I find it very thought provoking to reflect on how perception becomes our experience, and in the end it's all a memory anyways... a phantom.

©Sam Nagel (not for use or altering in any way)

From the Heart ...progress

Alright, so I'm kind of liking the progress shots... I usually don't capture my process, or save it like this, but I think it makes for something interesting on the blog. If you look at my sketchbook post below you'll see the original pencil sketch. The softness in her face got lost in the final linework; I'm totally bringing that back... Color is next, I actually have a thought out color scheme this time, wow!

Sun Goddess

I felt the urge to paint in oils again after nearly 7 months of only digital painting... that's wayyyy too long, how did that happen? oil + some acrylic 16x20" ...email me if interested sam_sgn@hotmail.com

Shapeshifter: Crow

Crow: sacred law, ability to bend laws, shape shift,
illusions, denotes change.

I am continuing a newly developing technique. I'm always looking for a way to apply texture, and gain precision at the same time. I love the way it looks AND enjoyed the painting part too. (usually it is one or the other)

Acrylic on canvas 14x18"
$395.oo

email me at: sam_sgn@hotmail.com

Child's Portrait

A commissioned child's portrait, of course I have to put my square strokes in somewhere. I'm a little disappointed with the picture here; the original painting looks much nicer... but that's what happens when I take a photo instead of scan it. It's been a while since I've done a figure in oil, and know it will always give me a nice painting session... portraits are fun, always different, and I've done so many that by now I don't even have to think too hard and I just enjoy the process.

oil 12x16"

Sketch Faces

Portraits I've recently made in my sketchbook. top is watercolor, bottom two are gouache...

Senior Thesis work