The Reeds – Oil & Cold Wax

I had been wanting to try out oil and cold wax painting for a while now.  I just didn’t want to buy more art supplies that I wasn’t sure I would ever use again.  Plus, I already have so many things I want to try and will probably never get around to all of it.

I kept seeing oil and cold wax paintings on Pinterest and You Tube and couldn’t stand it anymore.  I went out and bought the smallest bottle of cold wax medium I could find along with some inexpensive oil paints.  I already had some wood panels for a substrate and a catalyst tool for spreading the paint.

I mixed a few colors of oil paint 50/50 with cold wax medium and spread it around the panel with the catalyst tool.  I used the side of the tool to make marks in the paint.  Starting at the bottom of the panel, I lightly slid the tool up creating random marks.  The mark sizes varied depending on how much pressure I applied and the angle that I held the tool.

I really loved the way the paint was breaking up inside the lines.  It made me think of reeds in a wetland or swamp.  I just decided to leave it as it was.  It only took me about 10 minutes or less to paint this.

I need to try a few more paintings to decide if I want to invest in better oil paints and more cold wax.  I will say that I was not very patient with the time it took to dry.  I’m so used to painting with acrylic or water based mediums.  From what I understand, oil paintings dry faster with the cold wax medium.  I can’t imagine waiting for a painting to dry with just oil paint and no cold wax medium.