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Wildflowers is a new painting that is part of my solo show at The Depot in Norman, Oklahoma. It is also an example of a new direction I am exploring in my painting practice using cold wax medium with my oil paints.

After a period of isolation and self-evaluation during the pandemic, I began to search for a change and new challenges. I wasn’t satisfied with my status quo.  I became intrigued with the use of cold wax which is beeswax with a small amount of solvent in it. This soft, paste-like medium is added to oil paint in up to a 50/50 mix. With cold wax, I gained a great variety of possibilities for paint application and building unique textures. This took me from realistic to less representational ways to portray my images. Cold wax gives a pearly luster and buttery feel to the paint. It lends itself to working in a few or many layers with tools beyond brush and palette knife.  I am enjoying the element of surprise and excitement that this brings.  Working in this less structured way has introduced a bolder use color and less defined forms. 

Whoosh! is an exciting new painting exploration of combining oil paint with cold wax medium.

Cold wax is added to the oil paint and gives a lovely buttery feel to the paint as it is applied. It also gives even opaque colors a transparency if applied thinly. The other beauty of the oil/cold wax combo is the ability to build up layers and textures which can be transformed by scratching into or adding more on top of. the possibilities are exciting to look forward to trying!

This painting is a celebration of color and movement!