What Painting Technique Uses Cold Wax?

 What is cold wax?

The term “cold wax” refers to an oil painting medium that is a buttery soft paste made of beeswax mixed with a small amount of solvent and resin. It adds body, transparency, and depth to oil paint. It also speeds up the drying time of artwork and increases paint’s workability.

Cold wax mediums characteristically combine readily with other mixed media mediums such as dry pigment, marble dust pastel, oil sticks, graphite, and even the powdered charcoal that many mixed media artists have embraced.

The painting technique that uses cold wax

Cold wax painting is the wax paint technique that uses cold wax. This is an experiential and almost sculptural painting technique that heavily utilizes cold wax mediums in oil colors. Although artists often use it with pigment alone, it is frequently seen in combination with oil paints. Cold wax painting generally blurs the line between oil painting and encaustic painting.

Cold wax painting for beginners

Cold wax paintings range from those using minimal amounts of wax to those where wax is predominant. They typically feature lots of texture because cold wax allows artists to build up layers, scrape back color, and create glazes. The Cold Wax Acrylic Painting also distinguishes itself by not requiring the use of heat.

Here’re valuable lessons for cold wax painting newbies:

Starting to paint

Start by applying 2 layers of acrylic gesso to your surface. This will create a cradled panel. When the gesso has thoroughly dried, apply your first layer of oil paint and the cold wax medium. Mix the paint and cold wax using a ratio of 1:1. You can add anything you want to the mixture to enhance the creation of exquisite textures in the layer.

Be creative in using anything you have at hand. You can check out the grocery stores, drug stores, and hardware stores for great texture-making tools. Allow this first layer to dry before proceeding with your work. Continuing on the following day enables the layer to dry adequately.

Contrasting the layers of your artwork

Ensure that you play with contrasting color layers, the cool versus the warm, the opaque or light versus the dark, etc. to add excitement to your painting. Always use the color wheel when choosing your palette. Check by touching to establish whether a layer is dry before adding another. Keep creating textures, adding pigments, sprinkling on some pastel, etc., and aim at having fun as you play with the painting!

Transferring a drawing to the substrate

Before transferring a drawing to your substrate, always ensure that the layers are thoroughly dry. When you transfer the drawing, build up the figure by considering the lights and dark skin tones in the reference picture. If you find that the background is too busy, try applying a transparent layer over ii to calm it down.

Vanishing yourcold wax painting

You can use a cold wax medium as a final varnish on your cold wax painting. If you’re painting on oil paper, you’ll need to protect your final artwork under glass. If you’re working on a board, you can simply apply a layer of cold wax medium using a micro-fiber cloth. Once the artwork is dry, use a clean cloth to buff it to a glossy finish.

You can use these cold wax techniques when starting your journey into cold wax panting, but require further training and support in more advanced cold wax techniques, including the leading cold wax oil painting techniques.

Get help with cold wax techniques

If you have a cold wax paint technique that you would like to learn more about, get help from a professional in cold wax painting for beginners. They’ll help you with all the support you need with cold wax techniques, including cold wax oil painting techniques.

You can also access free training to help you in your artwork or click here to find out how you can be helped to grow your cold wax painting capabilities.