What effect does the addition of cold wax medium have on an oil painting?

This question has a simple answer. Wax offers many benefits to painters, including extending and adding body to oil paint, helping with drying time, and enhancing transparency and workability. It also lets artists create textural effects and layers without needing a special setup or ventilation. However, these benefits don't completely capture the properties and potential of working with cold wax. Over time, you gain a deeper appreciation for the medium's versatile nature and capabilities. It's important to remain open-minded and explore new possibilities, as you'll undoubtedly find exciting and innovative ways to work with it.

'Through The Trees' Oil & Cold Wax on Canvas 91 x 91 x 4 cm

Surface Impasto

This painting, 'Through The Trees', highlights the blend of various techniques. My Forest series emphasises creating textural nuances by developing a rich impasto surface. In the details below, you can see how the paint has been layered, carved, and incised to evoke movement, energy, and depth. I applied the initial layers of cold wax using a large spatula and spread them across the canvas with a rubber-bladed squeegee. Various types and sizes of squeegees were employed to modify the scale and dimensions of the marks. The action of dragging paint with cold wax naturally produces striations and structural marks, which can be further enhanced with crumpled paper, card, and aluminium foil. You might want to look at the work of the German painter Gerhardt Richter to see how he utilises a squeegee on large canvases. I always suggest exploring a range of tools and implements to find what suits you best, as we all have different skills and preferences.

'Through The Trees' Close-up of surface texture

Drying Time

Adding cold wax medium to oil paint significantly speeds up the drying time. This offers several benefits. You won't have to wait several days between layers of oil paint, allowing you to work almost continuously as your creativity and ideas flow. You can complete a painting in one session, but you'll need to adjust to the different levels of interaction between paint layers. However, drying isn't immediate, so you can take advantage of the varying degrees of dryness and fluidity. This will naturally depend on studio conditions, the season, the consistency of the cold wax medium, and more. The main point is that faster drying opens up new possibilities for paint handling and accelerates the painting process.

'Through The Trees' Oil & Cold Wax (Detail)

Translucency

The opacity of paint layers can be modified by incorporating cold wax. Oil pigments range from highly transparent to somewhat opaque, and artists use this range to enhance depth and intensity in their work. The cold wax medium enhances these qualities, allowing for the use of matte, satin, and highly glazed finishes. Specific areas of the painting can be burnished to enrich the surface and textures. In this piece, I applied titanium white impasto for the sky and, the next day, added a layer of Indian yellow thinned with cold wax medium. Occasionally, I mix linseed oil with the cold wax to boost translucency and gloss.

'Through The Trees' Oil & Cold Wax (Detail)

Mark Making and Serendipity

The following detail illustrates my technique of using mark-making to bring the canvas surface to life. If you let the wax dry for several hours, it can be etched and will preserve various incisions and marks. The result of this drawing or inscribing depends on the thickness of the wax layers beneath and the stage of drying. After a day of drying, you can achieve sharper, more defined lines and textures. Experience is key to judging this accurately. However, the positive aspect is that experimenting has no real drawbacks, and sometimes, unexpected results can be the most impactful. Embrace serendipity.

'Through The Trees' Oil & Cold Wax on Canvas (Detail)

Palette Knives and Paint Brushes

A discussion about cold wax medium wouldn't be complete without mentioning palette knives. I've been using different knives for my recent forest series. A palette knife allows you to apply cold wax pigment in a sculptural way, which is crucial. If you want to create texture, a palette knife is essential. However, be cautious and choose knives with thin, flexible blades for a better feel and control. Knives with limited flexibility hinder expressive mark-making and create a barrier between you and the paint medium.

And finally....Finding The Perfect Note

This section isn't directly related to cold wax, but it's a crucial part of the painting challenge. When I'm working with tonal, textural, and colour differences between objects and the background to achieve the best balance, I use a method akin to visual tuning. If you play a stringed instrument and frequently adjust the string tension to stay in tune, you'll understand what I mean. Tuning an instrument serves as a fitting analogy. With my acoustic guitar, I first loosen the string tension, placing the pitch below the desired note, then gradually increase the tension, moving towards the note. The reference note is either another fretted string or a digital tuner. I repeat this several times, going back and forth until the note is achieved. This process is similar to painting, as all colours, tones, and textures exist in relation to those around them. My point is that in painting, tones, colours, and textures only exist in relation to one another. The benefit of using cold wax is that these relationships are quickly established and can be changed much faster, accelerating the decision-making process. I hope this article assists you in your painting endeavours.

'Through The Trees' in a room setting