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Abstractions in Oil and Cold Wax

Saturday and Sunday, October 19 & 20; 11am - 4pm

Instructor: Andrea Wedell

This cold wax medium has become very popular because of its ability to extend and add body to oil paint, its ability to speed up drying time, and increase transparency and workability. It also doesn't require any special set up or ventilation and allows you to build up very exciting textural effects and layers. This course is for beginners through Intermediate students (though advanced students are welcome too).

Specifically this workshop will cover: CWM/Oil how to's; proportions, solvents, mediums, and surfaces; tools and how to use them effectively - brayers, silicone tools, brushes, and palette knives. Techniques covered:

• Foundational layers for optimal results
• Techniques and decision making through the rest of your layers
• Texture imprings
• Using RF pigment sticks
• Dry pigment and how to use it safelyAdding collage
• Dry mark making and mark making in general
• Glazing and veils of color
• Composition guidelines to help you when you get stuck
• Color theory and color mixing to take some of the guess work out of what to choose next

What you'll come away with:

• Confidence in how to best work with the medium
• An understanding of the process of working in CWM/Oil from start to finish
• A stronger understanding of composition and colorAn ability to avoid common pitfalls like muddy color and overly opaque surfaces
• How to reference a photo and how to work with no source image.

Instructor: Andrea has been painting and exhibiting her work for 30 years in the U.S. and Europe. Her training is in fine art, teaching, and coaching. Andrea weaves both her deep knowledge of painting, her expertise in adult learning and coaching to nurture the artists she works for, and helping them build technique, confidence, and their singular voice.

Fee: Members $350 Non-members $400

Where: Marin Museum of Contemporary Art, 781 Hamilton Parkway, Novato (building behind Béso Bistro)

Materials List:

• Provided by instructor: cold wax medium and surfaces
• Provided by participants: must bring the minimum - things highlighted in bold

Mediums and Solvents

• Cold wax medium: https://amzn.to/2Rgcaqw
• Galkyd Gel: optional but highly recommended; I use it to strengthen paint film, make it more flexible, and speed up drying time. It gives a slight satiny finish to your work rather than a matte finish
• Gamsol by Gamblin (or equivalent solvent / odorless mineral spirits)
• Citrasolv to clean your instruments and for reductive techniques

Markmaking Tools

• Graphite water soluble crayons, great for making marks: https://amzn.to/2tCZJfa but you can use anything you have: pencils, colored pencils, pan pastels. Some other options include: ArtGraf, Graphite, Carbon pencils, Lyra
• Graphitkreide, Stabilo, Carpenter pencils.
• I’m a pretty big fan of pan pastels for cold wax, so you’ll see me use them in demos. They come in lots of colors, but I’d get one or two to see if you like them before investing. Ditto for pigment sticks. They’re expensive. Pigment sticks have a wonderful deep color, and the stick form makes mark making a blast: https://amzn.to/2G9MZiQ

Tools to apply oil and cold wax

• Speedball rubber brayers (get at least two), available in many sizes: https://amzn.to/2unD86k
• Slicone Bowl Scraper, great to scrape back layers, this one’s a good size for anything: https://amzn.to/3VNlf8f
• Painting knives to mix your oil and cold wax mixtures
• Palette knives (I recommend at least 2.) My favorites are the Ateco offset
• Brushes if you’d like to use them with cold wax; you’ll need galkyd.

Supports

• Choose your favorites
• Arches oil paper in a pad. You can mount it on a board afterward: https://amzn.to/2sQPRyg
• Ampersand Gesso Board 12 x 12, is the perfect support for oil and cold wax, and 12 x 12 is great size to start out with: https://amzn.to/2ulmHHX but choose any size you feel good about.
• Gesso board (Ampersand is a great brand) but if you’d rather not use a pre-prepared Gesso board, you’ll need some Gesso to prepare your surface with.
• Others to consider:
• Multimedia Artboard
• Raw wooden panel, flat or cradled
• (*Note: Multimedia Artboard and Ampersand Encausticbord and Gessobord do NOT require any gesso)

Necessary Extras

• Scott Shop blue towels or equivalent– super absorbent, great for wiping paint on the canvas or cleaning tools. I use so many of these, I buy them in bulk: https://amzn.to/2RGmI0P
• Richeson Gray Paper Palette, has a color wheel on the back: https://amzn.to/38rjbKB
• Artist’s Tape – to keep the sides of your panels pristine while you’re working, or to tape your edges if you’re using paper – A MUST HAVE: https://amzn.to/36lhqNX

Oil Paints - really any brand is fine. If you’re a beginner, go ahead and choose student grade paints. Gamblin makes a very good set. Suggested Colors you’ll see me using in demos:

• Titanium White
• Ivory Black
• Cadmium Yellow Light
• Ultramarine Blue Cadmium
• Cadmium Red Medium
• Orange
• Alizarin Crimson
• Permanent Green Light (or Viridian)
• Dioxazine Purple
• Zinc White

A few paints which lend themselves well to glazing: Any color can be used as a glaze, but the following pigments are especially useful because they have a high oil content and thus are very good glaze candidates:

• *INDIAN YELLOW
• *ALIZARIN CRIMSON
• *QUINACRIDONE Red
• *ULTRAMARINE BLUE
• *PTHALO GREEN/BLUE
• *SAP GREEN
• *PTHALO BLUE
• *Quinacridone Magenta

Extras

• Gloves
• Apron
• Scissors
• Cutting mat
• Raw pigment

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