Serena Barton

Artist, Portland Oregon

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    • Online Classes
    • At My Studio
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  • Galleries
    • Oil & Cold Wax
      • Northern New Mexico Series
        • Peñasco
      • Marking Time Series
        • Pech Merle
        • Paleo Winter
        • Shapes at Helnaes
        • Traces of a Child, Running
        • The Veil is Thin
        • What is Not Seen Can Be Felt
        • Whisper
        • Only Connect
        • La Sagesse
        • Unearthed Fragments
      • Confluence
        • Question
        • Stendhal Syndrome
        • What I Remember
        • Door to the Past
        • Last Sojourn
      • Nature Series
        • McKenzie River, 1951
        • Helnæs Bay
        • Like an Embrace
        • It’s a Mystery
        • Ohio Fall
        • Crecer
        • Dianthus
      • Internal Landscapes Series
        • Rich and Strange
        • Sometimes They Help
        • La Respuesta
        • Transit
        • Voyage
        • Both/And
        • I Love Your Mind
        • I Thought You Might
        • La Fenice
        • Penelope’s Loom
        • Light in the Dark
      • Richard III Series
        • Hic Jacet Ricardus Rex (Here Lies King Richard) : Bosworth
        • Hic Jacet Ricardus Rex: A Long Slumber
        • Hic Jacet Ricardus Rex: Reclamation
    • Acrylic/Mixed Media
  • Resume
  • Events/In the Media
  • Bio
  • Contact
  • Oil/Cold Wax Resources
  • Books/DVDs
    • Book: Wabi-Sabi Painting with Cold Wax
    • Book: Wabi-Sabi Art Workshop
    • DVDs
    • Events

Oil/Cold Wax Resources

My mothers clothes small.

What is Cold Wax?

Cold wax is a soft paste of beeswax, mineral spirits, and resin. Some forms of cold wax were used in ancient times, including on some of the famous Fayum mummy portraits. Cold wax is an oil painting medium as are liquid mediums such as Galkyd. Contemporary painters are discovering ways to use cold wax with oils in ways that highlight the unique qualities of the medium. Cold wax helps extend the paint film, shorten drying time, create and highlight texture. and produce translucence. It is ideal for layering and scraping back to reveal previous layers. It needs no heat as encaustic does, and the lean-to-fat rule doesn’t apply as it does in other oil paintings. People often compare laying down oil mixed with cold wax to frosting a cake.

Oil and cold wax pieces are most often done on a rigid wood panel. Using a panel allows the artist to use a higher ratio of wax to paint than pieces done on canvas. It also allows more vigorous incising and scraping back. Arches Oil Paper is also great for oil and cold wax. No gesso is needed and the tooth of the paper adds to the overall effect. Pieces on paper need fewer layers and dry more quickly.

I create multiple layers, adding texture with palette knives, rubber squeegees, and a variety of household tools such as basting brushes, rubber jar openers, plastic combs, coffee sleeves, and cheesecloth. I use solvents such as odorless mineral spirits to allow the paint to run or be incised into more fully. I may use oil bars, graphite crayons, graphite powder, marble dust, or sand to add marks, body, or texture. I incise, scribble, and scrape back, allowing each piece to tell its own story.

 

Books

Wabi-Sabi Painting with Cold Wax by Serena Barton, North Light Books

Cold Wax Book by Rebecca Crowell and Jerry McLaughlin, Squeegee Press

 

Basic Supplies

Cold wax medium, liquid oil mediums, oil paints, painting knives, brayers, pottery tools, odorless mineral spirits, wood panels, Arches oil paper, Citra Solv, powdered pigments, graphite powder, oil bars, acrylic gesso, oil paints, acrylic paints ,oil painting ground, marble dust, paper palette, Catalyst marking tools, charcoal, bristle brushes and more from:

www.dickblick.com

www.cheapjoes.com

www.jerrysartarama.com

 

My Favorite Stencils

www.stencilgirlproducts.com

 

 

Clean Sand

www.michaels.com

 

Oil Pens

www.amazon.com

www.dickblick.com

 

Venetian Plaster

Lowes or Home Depot

 

Community

The talented and generous veteran oil and cold wax artist and instructor Rebecca Crowell administers two sites where artists can share information and images:

www.coldwaxpainting.com

oilandwax.ning.com

 

Lots of images of oil and cold wax pieces

www.pinterest.com

www.facebook.com/ColdWaxPainting

 

My Favorite Books on the Creative Process

Art and Fear. David Bayles and Ted Orland: Image Continuum Press, 2001

Steal Like an Artist, Austin Kleon: Workman Publishing Co., 2012

The Creative Conversation, Bridget Benton: Eyes Aflame Publishing, 2011

Films About Abstract Painting

“Gerhard Richter Painting”, Director: Corinna Belz, 2012

www.gerhardrichterpainting.com

“Joan Mitchell: Portrait of an Abstract Painter, Director:  Marion Cajori, 1993

http://www.amazon.com/Joan-Mitchell-Portrait-Abstract-Painter/dp/B003XIBKAU

 

 

 

 

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