Why I Love Cold Wax - and the Importance of Play

15 Jun

Trying out new materials, techniques or ideas can sometimes feel daunting. What if you don’t know exactly what you’re doing? What if you look out of your depth? What if you feel out of your depth? In spite of this, trying out new things, with no exact end point in mind, can be so beneficial to your creative development and your confidence.

My first experience of Cold Wax Medium was at the foot of the wild Yorkshire Dales mountain, Pen-y-ghent. I was at the contemporary landscape painter, Penny Hunt's workshop; Landscape Painting with Oil and Cold Wax, in Horton-In-Ribblesdale.

Lucky for me there is an old sleepy railway line, the Settle and Carlisle, that runs from my hometown Keighley, out into the Dales. Titled England's most scenic rail route, I felt very lucky indeed!

At this point in my creative journey though, I hadn’t a clue where I was going.

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Train tracks lead off into the distance to an eventual bend. Horton-in-Ribblesdale train station — Horton-in-Ribblesdale Station

I knew that trying new things was a good way to push myself out of my comfort zone and get back into the right frame of mind for investigation. However I hadn't anticipated just how much the properties of cold wax would lend itself to open ended play.

I had been in a place of uncertainty, unsure of what I wanted to explore, overwhelmed and stifled by options! However I had discovered and talked to artist's who used Cold Wax Medium and felt inspired. I had read about it and was intrigued. So I wanted to have a go.

Yet I was nervous! – I didn't fully understand what it was, had so many questions, and what if I used it wrong?

Something I always recommend to artists if they feel a bit lost or unsure, is to find workshops or groups that can introduce you to new things. Here you not only get to try before you buy(so you can be sure the things you decide to spend your hard earned cash on will come to good use.), but the process of meeting other artists, sharing experiences and skills in an encouraging 'have a go' environment can be so uplifting, and you will come away feeling more confident, equipped and ready to go!

We started our day by heading outside to draw from our surroundings, using Wallace and Seymour ancient drawing materials - raw natural rock like pieces of pigment, handmade in Yorkshire. Some of these ancient drawing materials were even sourced from the local area. It felt grounding to draw and hold in your hand these organic chunks of colour that linked so closely to the environment we sat in. Feeling the breeze, smelling the air, I soaked up how it felt to be in that amazing place.

Then we returned back to our workshop space in the village hall for hot drinks, biscuits and to start to explore the cold wax medium itself.

Abstract painting. Oil and Cold Wax on paper. — Feel the Weather by Jess Kidd

But what exactly is cold wax?

Cold Wax Medium is beeswax mixed with a solvent, so that it becomes soft and pliable without the need for heat, and a resin for strength. It feels and looks a bit like coconut oil, before it's melted, except perhaps just a tad more buttery. When mixed with oil paint, it thickens the consistency, makes it quite matt and speeds up the drying time. This creates more opportunities to build layers and create texture. You can blend and roll smoothly whilst still soft; layer it up by letting it dry slightly in-between applications; create thick impasto textures; but then also scrape back to reveal the colours and marks below. It also has a fantastic ability to stick to tools and objects with which you can then print and mark make with.

Cold Wax Medium in a jar — Cold Wax Medium

Why I love cold wax medium!

Cold wax medium seems to lend itself to open ended play and exploration. The opportunities to apply it in different ways, with different tools, at different speeds, feels endless. You can blend when wet and carve or layer when dry. You can roll, spread, scrape, print. You can use rollers, palette knives, squeegees, tissue, found objects such as kitchen utensils, rubber bands; foraged objects such as grasses, twigs, stones or leaves. My current gang of favourite tools include wire wool, a rice spatula and a silicone toilet brush! You can get lost in the process and never want to it to end.

This could feel overwhelming when you're not sure where to start. However, cold wax also seems to have a mind of it's own - There's an unpredictability about the way it behaves, so that you just have to have a go and soon enough you will be engrossed in the process.

I had been feeling tightly wound, nervous to make work that had any weight – Cold Wax Medium totally stomped on that with a big fat splodge. This meant I just had to let go of any expectations of what my work would look like, and became open minded to what path the cold wax would take my practice. It felt easier to get into this new frame of mind as the process of exploration was so much fun and rather sensory - especially if you used natural found materials to explore mark making with.

A selection of items, some natural grasses and plants, some household items such as a silicone toilet brush, sit in jars and vases by a window. — Current Favourite Mark-Making Tools

This opened me up to taking risks, breaking up that tight bind that kept me from trying new things.

I gave in and explored what I could, mixing colours, trying out different 'tools' for making marks. It helped me enjoy being present the moment. Something's worked, something's didn't. The more I just tried, the more I relaxed and ideas started to feel less nerve racking and more instinctive.

A semi-abstract seascape — Retreat by Jess Kidd

How can you use cold wax?

I always recommend finding a creative workshop, or a friend who can give you a taster before you invest in a new artistic material or equipment. Penny now offers her course online, so wherever you are, you too can have a go. Her course is awarded Gold and rated excellent by craftcourses.com . Craft Courses have a wide range of courses in all sorts of different creative activities.

If you want to have a go without trying a workshop, there are a variety of Cold Wax Mediums available from art suppliers, and even recipes to make it yourself online. Depending on which one you use, there might be different proportions, but generally, mix about half of the amount of paint you have, of wax into it, until it starts to look slightly matt. Then… just have a go!

A note on Open Ended Play

The term, open ended play comes from early years educational establishments. However, more and more I feel it is the perfect definition for how artists explore, research and develop their practice. The teacher resource website, 'twinkl' explains that “open-ended play is any type of play that has no strict rules to follow and no ‘correct’ solutions or fixed outcomes at the end.” They state that “It’s great for encouraging creativity.”. For me, a big part of being an artist, is the act of play – experimenting with your materials, how you apply them, mix them, what you mix them with, and what kind of outcomes you discover along the way. You can build on what you learn and develop skills that involve control. However giving yourself time to 'let go', to have open ended moments of exploration, where you don't know what your expectations are, where you let yourself become immersed in the moment, can help you become open to taking risks, which can be invaluable in discovering new ways of working - What you like and dislike and ultimately pushing your practice further!

If you’d like to learn more about workshops and taster courses, Craft Courses has tonnes of different choices to try. If you’d like to learn more about where I started, Penny Hunt has a fab website with more information on her courses.