All the paintings for “Marks” are done! I finished oiling out the last one last night, and will be taking it to the gallery still very wet today. 9 of the 11 paintings for the show are already there, and having them out of my apartment after so much prep is odd. I sure do have a lot more room now though. Continue reading →

Last Sunday, I found myself with nothing to paint. I was (and am) still working on one last painting for the show in March, but was held up waiting for a background to dry. I’ve been on such a painting bender the last few weeks that having nothing pressing to work on, and thus, nothing to distract me from the inevitable depression of Singles Awareness Day (read: vday), was distressing to say the least. so, instead of handling the myriad other things I should be doing, I decided to paint my dumb face again. Continue reading →

I have a folder I keep on my computer called “inspirado”, where I keep images of anything that may inspire me…from good graphic design to my favorite paintings. If i’m not particularly feeling a piece i’m working on or I just need some motivation, I’ll take a look through hundreds of images i’ve saved and it almost always gets me back on track. I figured that in light of any new work of my own to post (i’m still working away), I’d add some of these here. Continue reading →

I probably don’t need to state that some paintings go more smoothly than others. many times, an idea about composition or additional elements in a painting totally work out, and there’s a clear “and it’s done” point. I love it when this happens… it feels like things are working properly, my brain and my hands are working in tandem and the final product is just that, a final product. I don’t think about whether its done or not, what could maybe be added to make it better, etc…it’s just done. that said, this is pretty rare for me. I did have a few consecutive paintings a few months back that finished easily, meaning that I didn’t second guess them and knit pick them into completion (don’t get me wrong, the second guessing works for me too, generally I’m happy with the outcome eventually…but it’s certainly a lot less stressful the other way). these days however, as I work on the last 3 for the “Marks” show, not so much. One is going smoothly and is 95% done, the other two however, are a lot more challenging. they both are a lot more stark in composition, with more of a plain dark background to draw the viewer into the figure…or so I hope. Continue reading →

more info and a press release here: http://shootinggallerysf.com/artists/aaron-nagel/

I Spent 4 hours last night painting text…and my wrist is killing me right now. I recently ordered a bunch of dual-language books so I don’t have to scour the internet for content so much anymore. I’m really enjoying using the text behind the figure, it gives the pieces a balance that I haven’t been able to give them any other way, and adds depth too boot. Now I have Dante’s Inferno in the original Italian, a bunch of classic Latin stories from forever ago, and even a book in Russian. The fact that I can’t read any of these languages adds just the right amount of distraction from the main figure in my paintings…probably something that wouldn’t quite work with english. Continue reading →