Stories of Cold Wax Painting

My love affair with cold wax painting continues. The pieces I'm doing now are completely experimental and intuitive, which is amazingly fun and occasionally frustrating. I painted last night and transformed my piece quite a few times before I was satisfied. Here it is:

Continuity

 

 

 

 

You'd never know it, but this piece has red, blue, burnt sienna, green, yellow, iridescent gold, ochre, celadon, buff, white, and black in it.
  

Some things I've learned about cold wax painting:

Use colors  you love for the first couple of layers of wax and oil paint--you will likely want to scrape back to them later on.

I work best with large-ish panels so that I can make bolder strokes or excavations.

Adding texture to the layers as you go will result in interesting texture on the top layer even if the old color doesn't show through.

You can paint wet on wet with a few colors but then it is best (for me, anyway) to let the piece dry before adding more so I don't get mud. I find that translucent colors work best for wet on wet.

I need inspiring music to keep my changes and additions brave enough.  

There are thousands of ways your piece could go at anytime in the process. Just do a lot of pieces and you won't  be overwhelmed.  
 

Resurgence

I did this piece in the last Art of Life group, my monthly women's art workshop. The group members made me stop at this point and I'm glad they did.

I'll be teaching a class in cold wax called "Baby, It's Cold" at Art and Soul Retreat in Virginia Beach on April 27. I'm looking forward to seeing what the participants come up with.

Paint a dreamy landscape to start the new year!

Happy New Year! I'm happy to announce my first studio class of 2013.

Landscape of Dreams

Sometimes less can be more! Explore the freedom of palette knife painting and learn how to create simple, elegant, and fascinating landscapes. You’ll learn about the effects of various acrylic mediums on paint, how many painted effects can be achieved, and how suggestion can be more effective than detail. You’ll relax, listen to music and let yourself interact with the tools and materials to bring the landscapes of your dreams to life.

Saturday: January 19, 2013 1-5:30
Tuition: 90. Supplies Provided.

 

The Art of Your Life Studio

1146 SE 80th Ave.

Portland OR

 

Register on my website.

From the Art of Life Group

A couple of works in progress from last week's women's art group held at my studio. Pretty cool!

Cindy's magical and surreal acrylic painting in progress

 

 

 

Tristen's wabi-sabi landscape in progress

My Book is Almost Here!

I found out yesterday that my book, Wabi-Sabi Art Workshop, is available for pre-order from Amazon, Create Mixed Media, and Barnes and Noble. Those who pre-order get a 34% discount! I hope you will check it out and help me spread the word.

 
Ah, the glamorous life of an author/artist. I was cleaning a toilet this morning when Fed-Ex dropped off the final galleys from my editor at North Light. Needless to say, I left the toilet to clean itself and dove into the black and white pages. The editor, Kristy Conlin, also sent a CD of the book in color. I am so thrilled. She did a great job of editing. The pictures taken by Christine Polomsky are delicious. The book designer, Julie Barnett, did a wonderful job--it's simple and elegant. I couldn't be happier. 

Authors these days are responsible for marketing their books to a large degree. I'll be giving a blog tour later on and will keep you posted on this and other events. I should be a marketing expert by the time I'm finished. I'll have a few giveaways, too. Stay tuned!

And thank you all, for your support and encouragement! 

Cold Wax Painting

 

A new cold wax and oil painting. I did lots of layers and scraping back and added texture by using string to incise into the wet wax and oil layers.