Cold Wax Medium (part 1)

Rainforest      oil and cold wax on prepared panel     10 x 8 inches     (tgr)

CWM = cold wax medium

Wow!

I went to a painting workshop in August.

On Whidbey Island, in Washington state ...

there's a teensy little town

called Coupeville.

There is an art center there called the 

Pacific NW Art School, 

where art classes are held.

 I was so pleasantly surprised

that I worked and worked and worked 

along with my fellow workshoppers 

and the week went by

-

like nothing!

Dr Jerry McLaughlin

was our instructor.

Please click on that link and it will fill you in on how Jerry is turning from 

a Pediatric Critical Care Physician 

to artist, author and respected instructor/mentor in the art world.

First, you are maybe wondering what CWM is. Here is a link
for more a thorough definition ... and, directly from the
site is this definition:
"Cold wax medium is a medium composed mainly of beeswax 
with a small amount of solvent and other ingredients to aid in drying time, 
for use with oil paint. It has a soft, paste-like consistency."

Our first day was spent 
preparing boards for the week, which meant: 
1 - staining the white, blank space of the surface 
2 - thinking about layers for contrast
3 - using the tools

Some of my first layers looked like this:

These are on Multimedia Artboard 16 x 20 inches.

Next post will be photos of our workshop space 
and a little more about how you can use CWM.

Stay tuned ...

Oh! and in the meantime, please look up
Jerry and Rebecca Crowell's
book about Cold Wax Medium!

There is a wealth of information about CWM!

... and, as always - happy painting!