Cold Wax Art Technique

A closer look at the cold wax painting medium with a small amount of oil paint added.

Cold wax art technique.

Gamblin cold wax medium a mixture of natural beeswax wax pastilles gamsol and a small amount of alkyd resin. Cold wax medium is used in every style of painting from realism to pure abstraction. As the solvent evaporates the soft wax hardens to the density of a beeswax candle. In addition cold wax and oil paint remain workable for quite some time and can be layered with other media.

Try different proportions of. I used a palette knife to add about a finger nail size amount of oil paint to the wax. The medium is liberating for artists as new and innovative approaches are discovered pretty much every time you work in the studio. The term cold in cold wax medium and cold wax painting refers to the fact that heat is not required for working with this wax medium as it dries by solvent evaporation gamsol rather than the cooling of the wax as in encaustic painting.

If any of the above strike a chord you can suss out a new path for your creativity with cold wax. For cold wax painting cold wax is mixed with oil paint at room temperature. The term cold in cold wax medium and cold wax painting refers to the fact that heat is not required for working with this wax medium as it dries by solvent evaporation rather than the cooling of the wax as in encaustic painting. The wax has modified the oil not only by volume but it is more translucent with plenty of body.

Then only add a small pea sized blob of oil with the tip of a palette knife. The texture of both wax and oil is clear to see. I mixed the. Cold wax is comprised of beeswax resin and solvent and unlike encaustic it requires no special setup.

It s a good practice to move some wax from the initial pile.