“The Sunday Walk” – 36″ x 48″ oil and wax
My painting techniques and images have long been led by changes in my life and most of the time the changes are for the better. Sometimes it is a simple change of direction because of a commission which resulted in a new challenge. Other times it has been a difficult and traumatic experience.
EXTREME ALLERGIC REACTION
As I’ve mentioned in previous posts, I developed an extreme reaction to paint thinner fumes which made me very ill. When I recovered, I realized that I would have to give up painting with the the oils I loved and learn to paint with water media.
I did eventually learn to enjoy both acrylics and watercolors, but over the years I still tried to find a way to paint with oils. By this time, my technique had changed completely and I thought I could just do the same thing with oils that I had been doing with acrylics. I still had a lot of trouble controlling the oil paint without being able to use any medium to dilute and make it easy to apply.
FINALLY – A SOLUTION!
Several months ago I started mixing Dorland’s wax with my oils and found that they brushed on easily and were easy to control. Unlike the hot wax of the encaustic technique, Dorland’s is a cold wax composed of bees wax and resin and a small amount mixed with oil paint gives a wonderful matte appearance to the paint. It dries to a hard finish and can be polished with a soft cloth to give a satiny surface.
The painting above is created with this technique and will be in my September show at the Lawrence Gallery.
