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)

Bird Nest

I recreated my bird nest drawing into another painting, this time using watercolors. I got a new set of Dr. Martin liquid watercolors and looove them! The pictures link to my Etsy store where you can purchase the products and prints.

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

Something New: Pin-up

I've been working out some new sketches for a painting. I'm sketching in photoshop with my tablet, but I'm going to end up doing the painting in oils. The bottom image is basically putting my idea onto paper, then I got real reference to work from and produced the second image at the top... what a difference. The next thing I want to do is add some kind of motif to the painting... just gotta figure out what that will be... something in her hair, it's all about her hair (and less about the boobs) ;)

2013 Calendar "Body Mind Spirit" series

New calendar for sale on my Etsy Store only $24 ... here www.etsy.com/shop/SamNagel

I've been working on creating three 2013 calendars with all of my new artwork. It's a desk calendar that is a monthly tear away, and comes with a mini easel for display. I'm also giving one calendar away to a lucky person who 'likes' my facebook page Art by Sam Nagel . And if you share one of the calendar photos you get a second entry into the drawing! so check it out and share!

Meditation

©Sam Nagel

This is the last card in the deck I've been working on for some time now. I'm very happy with how it came out. I was beginning to run out of steam and new ideas, but realized this whole time I never painted someone in a meditation pose, and so I find it very fitting to use it now on the card that puts the deck in completion. FIN!

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

Another Couple

©Sam Nagel

This time it was a simple and quick photoshop painting. I always enjoy using silhouettes on a painterly background.

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

Space Whale

© Sam Nagel

I just couldn't get this off my mind. Whale in Space. love it.

mixed media: pencil and photoshop painting

Ripple Effect

I decided to break out my old pencil rendering skills and see what I could come up with for this new card. When I first started out making art I only drew with graphite for years. I swore back then that I was happy drawing super realism in black and white and didn't have the desire to dabble in color or paint... I find that very funny now. It turns out that I love painting more than anything, and drawing in pencil is more tedious than I remember, but still enjoyable. I'm glad that I can combine my pencil work with my digital painting like above. So I used color pencil (who needs erasers?), scanned and combined the two drawings in photoshop, then digitally colored.

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

Wholeness

©Sam Nagel

I recreated an older piece of art I had done about five years ago. The concept of this tree fit very well with the card I was designing. check out the meaning of the card on facebook, link is below...

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

Curly Fern

©Sam Nagel

I kept this one pretty easy. I actually enjoyed painting the background, trying to create soft blur focus in some areas along with some texture. I had sketched the fern leaves in my sketchbook and scanned it. The line is my original sketchbook drawing, the rest is painted digitally in photoshop. I really wanted to use the imagery of the curly fern for a while, and use the concept of a yin yang, but without it being the yin yang symbol. I took some artistic liberty with the curl of the fern transforming into a full fern leaf... it probably doesn't actually look that way in nature (nor is it blue). I also needed to create something with the cool colors rather than so much warmth.

Portal

©Sam Nagel

I'm getting toward the end of the cards. Even though I did them in random order I still have more that are at the end of the deck, and my visual interpretation keeps getting more trippy. (or it could just be the electronic music I'm listening to) I chose to represent evolution of the soul and a general higher awareness with a Japanese torri and shrine. The purpose of the torri is to separate the mundane and profane from the sacred, it cleanses and purifies as one passes through them.

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

Orchid Flower

©Sam Nagel

It turned out kind of psychedelic. I had a crappy painting that I started for this card, but turned it into the background... If you look carefully you can see a man's profile and ribbon-like brain matter... haha. Now onto the next card... 6 more to go!!!

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

Bird's Nest

©Sam Nagel

from to pencil drawing to digital painting. The line is my original pencil line, + photoshop for color.

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

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

The Poet

©Sam Nagel

I've had this idea floating around in my head for a long time and so I finally got around to painting it.

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

digital painting/photoshop

Spirit of the Trees

©Sam Nagel

I'm enjoying creating interesting silhouettes combined with a painterly technique.

tools: photoshop cs5

Fire

 ©Sam Nagel

I'm feeling very angry today. So I painted the anger card... fitting. I imagine this is my energy when I'm pissed off. I have a lot of it. But of course, it's a couples card, and about how anger is healthy in relationships and how to express it... so hopefully it is not too scary, lol.

photoshop digital painting

Fish

©Sam Nagel

I don't know which one I like better... paint spatter or clean? I started painting the fish without reference, and so now I can't tell you what kind of fish it is, but I'm thinking it's a cross between a koi and betta. The beauty of art is you can be full of shit and as long as it looks good it doesn't matter. :)

painted with a tablet in photoshop

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