Rise Up! An Intuitive piece Oil and Cold Wax on Cradled Wood Panel 10″ x 10″
Oil and Cold Wax. There is just something about it. It draws me in. It constantly surprises me. I’m never quite sure where it will end up, and I love that!
This was an amazing piece to create. First I added gesso to the wood surface, then added a layer of blue and teal acrylic so that when I scraped it back, it wouldn’t be just to a white surface. When working in this medium I work 100% intuitively. I just immerse myself in the glory of the color palette and play with the all that scrumptious, creamy paint. What a wondrous texture! The thing I love about the process of painting with oil and cold wax is the fact that I could never ever create the same piece twice!
I have long been interested in encaustic art. I even bought all the various supplies…small crock pot, griddle, wax, temperature gauge, all of it! But I was intimidated by the process and worried about the fumes since I have asthma. Then I saw a painting from a fellow artist, asking her if it was encaustic and she replied no, thereby introducing me to the world of Oil & Cold Wax.
Of course it took me a while to actually start experimenting with cold wax…starting with this portrait, since I was primarily focused on faces at the time.
So now here I am in 2020 and there has been a definite shift in my art. I joined Matt Tommey’s online artist mentoring program, that I credit for somehow influencing this shift. I have been participating in Created To Thrive for a few months now, and even though I have been sporadic in participating and taking advantage of all the advice and guidance available, I am glad I joined. It feels good to belong to a group of like-minded creatives.
But that’s not the only influence on my dive into oil and cold wax…I have been watching YouTube videos that have inspired me as well. Gently guiding me through the process and man oh man am I having FUN!
So, anyway…here is my jump back into the medium. I feel a newfound passion for the medium and enjoy experimenting like never before! A sense of freedom and a lessening of the fear of failure or screwing up. SO glad I am on this journey and so glad I live in a time with such a tremendous access to learning on the internet!
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