This post sets out the material composition of the cold wax medium I use — the beeswax, damar resin, and solvent — and describes how these elements behave during and after painting. It is intended as a reference for those who want to understand the physical basis of the work.

In April 2025 I showed a new group of paintings at Fresh Art Fair, Cheltenham Racecourse. The works were part of my continuing forest series — each one an attempt to hold the particular quality of light and structure that draws me back to woodland as a subject.

Gold enamel and cold wax medium

The question of detail in painting is not technical — it is philosophical. This post reflects on how I approach the relationship between precision and openness in my work, using a painting of Eaves Wood in Lancashire as a starting point for thinking about what detail is actually for.

Using cold wax medium with oil paint to create a forest

The question I am asked most often is how oil paint and cold wax work together. This post draws on my current studio practice to describe the relationship between the two materials — how they interact, how I mix and apply them, and what the medium makes possible that oil alone does not.

This large-scale painting was developed over an extended period in the studio, its surface built up through successive layers of oil and cold wax medium. The title refers both to the colour — a deep, saturated green that dominates the composition — and to the sense of enclosure that the vertical forms of the trees create: a vault of branches and foliage that shelters and contains. Surface and Process The work was made using a variety of tools — palette knives, rollers, and pr

This is the work currently in the studio. I have decided to produce a series of paintings based on the VolksPark in Berlin

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

Cold wax landscape painting techniques