Messing around with cold wax and oil paints…
My friend Connie and I just attended a 4 week session class on painting with cold wax, taught by George Wade Carmichael- a fabulous teacher. George is incredibly knowledgeable about historical painting techniques and materials.
However, it was the total opposite of what I had read about cold wax painting on-line!
I was expecting to do heavy textural layers of cold wax, with squeegees and sharp mark making objects.
Initial sketch idea in acrylic and collage
Painting in cold wax and oil- still in progress
Instead we worked with the smallest brushes I have ever seen and laid down super-fine layers of translucent colors of oil and cold wax, starting with a foundation of complimentary colors which de intensified the application of color on the next layers. So completely different from my usual approach to painting which is lots of applications of thick saturated colors with complimentary colors laid beside each other, not in layers.
The inspiration for my sketch came from this lovely photo of my niece, Louisa Lily Bell
With this technique I appear to have a softer and more detailed image that I would normally paint.
Must be the tiny brushes!
The painting is not finished as I ran out of my mixture of cold wax and thinner while painting. George showed us how to cook it up in the microwave-so I made a batch this evening. I’m liking the translucent layers- and the contrasting opaque areas too.
studiotempera 