Painting with Joy via Bowl Scraper

"Pack Up All My Cares and Woe," oil and cold wax, 10x10 inches
©2021 Barbara Benedetti Newton

Something just happened and I'm not sure I can even explain how it happened. My best guess is that I was open to the idea because the time was right. Now, who makes the right time - me or the Universe - is another question. Anyway...

I have had a jar of Dorland Wax Medium for at least 7 years. I moved it from my previous studio to this one. I used some a couple years ago to glaze a gouache painting so it could be framed without glass. Then, last week, I came across a video of an artist working in oil and cold wax. The work was abstract, I didn't have an instant rapport with the artist and I didn't watch the video to the end. But my notes from the video included info about a comprehensive book on cold wax medium. Rave reviews on the internet about the book. I ordered it. It is a tome, I doubt I will ever read all of it but it carefully and simply laid out information on supplies. I ordered a couple new tools to try the process of adding cold wax to my oil paint. 

Next came a video conversation between the two authors of the cold wax book and the introduction of something I didn't know I even thought about before. Texture. Texture - either visual or literal - as one of the design elements of a painting along with color, value, line and shape. 

In reflecting on my own work I realize I have intuitively been using texture. Paper texture played a major role in my colored pencil work. When I moved on to pastel, I spattered and used broken color to achieve texture both visual and literal as well as silicone tools for textural line work. In oil painting, all texture work has been visual rather than literal, based most likely on my reluctance to be generous with oil paint. But, unbeknownst to me, I was about to embark on an art-changing event by adding wax to my paint.

With no idea where to start or what to paint, I chose an unvarnished oil painting from my 2020 year of working with a mentor. I decided to use the still-life floral image as an underpainting and play around with  oil and cold wax. I read that I should put a little pile of wax on my palette and mix it 50/50 with oil paint using a palette knife. Apply some color to the painting with a palette knife.

OK. Did that. Then, just start painting and probably not with a brush. How about a silicone bowl scraper? It's like a big half circle. 

From that point on, I did everything with the Messermeister! Mixed paint, applied paint, removed paint, made lines, made texture, removed texture. No brush to make familiar marks. An all-new process. Oh so fun! A joy to learn something new. I am going through my inventory now for more old paintings that could use a shot of joyfulness.