How to be creative with oil paint and cold wax. Using Jeff Becks guitar playing for inspiration

The surface of a cold wax painting is never passive. This post explores how I approach the building and reworking of a painted surface — the layering, the scraping back, the moments of decision — and what it means for a painting to feel alive rather than resolved.

Mike Tyson's remark has always struck me as unexpectedly apt for painting. You can plan a surface, intend a particular quality of light, work toward a specific resolution — and then the painting refuses. What happens next is where the real work begins.

A Minimalist abstract painting based on water and clouds