What is Cold Wax?
Cold wax is soft wax made from mixing beeswax, mineral spirits and resin and it’s been used for thousands of years. Cold wax is ideal for the creation of layers. It needs no heat as encaustic does, and when mixed with oil paint it becomes a soft, frothy substance similar to the frosting on a cake. Cold wax helps to extend the paint film, shortens drying time and allows the artist to create layers.
Painting with oils and cold wax can be done on heavy paper as well as rigid wood panels. Gesso is needed on wood panels but not when using heavy paper. I suggest using 140 lb. Arches Oil Paper and then advancing to 300 lb. watercolor paper as your work progresses.
I use a variety of tools, many of which are found in my kitchen, to make marks and to add textures. I use solvents, specifically Citra Solv to remove top layers from my painting and to reveal the bottom layers. No two paintings look the same. Each painting tells its own story.