Turns of the Kaleidoscope: Creating Oil and Cold Wax Abstract Paintings

Oil and cold wax creates rich luminosity and interesting surfaces. When applied with squeegees and putty knives it's like painting with whipped butter. Let's pump up the color and make some bold, startling marks to create surprise and take our breath away. We will lay down swaths of paint, build texture, scrape it away and then do it all again. We will work intuitively and energetically on multiple pieces, exploring texture, layers, composition and design with an emphasis on color. Layers dry quickly and cleanup is done with baby oil. You will complete several pieces and go home with several painting starts.

Dayna's fiery red hair sets the tone for how she makes her art and lives her life. She is an energetic, intuitive, abstract painter working in oil and cold wax. She loves experimenting with texture, layers and color, likening her paintings to going on an archaeological dig.

She paints intuitively and abstractly, laying down bold swaths of color in oil paint mixed with cold wax, then going back in, scraping, layering, adding, subtracting, refining the composition and finally discovering the story buried in the paint. She loves making marks using oil pigment sticks, graphite, or by scratching into the surface with a sharp object, each mark reflecting her eclectic personality. She is an energetic teacher and provides a safe place for students to experiment and learn new techniques.

• 6-8 substrates (no larger than 11x14 inches; we will be working on several boards at once to allow for drying time)

• Note: You can use cradled or flat WOOD panels, or you can work exclusively on Arches Oil Paper. Please gesso or paint your boards with acrylic paint prior to class. No need to gesso Arches Oil Paper

• 16-oz. Gamblin (or Dorland's) cold wax

• Messermeister Silicone Bowl Scraper (available on Amazon) or Squeegees (available through Cold Wax Academy https://coldwaxacademy.com/squeegees/)

• 2 or 3 palette knives in a variety of sizes

• 3 or 4-inch putty knife with flexible blade

• 12x16 inch pad of Arches Oil Paper

• A small assortment of oil paints in colors you love, including Titanium white. With a red, blue, and a yellow, we can mix a lot of colors. (I will bring lots of paint colors to share.)

• 16x20 inch pad of palette paper

• Two rolls of paper towels

• Roll of painter's tape

Optional:

• A variety of texture-making materials, i.e., stencils, corrugated cardboard, old rubber stamps. Be creative and bring what you have on hand.

• Mark-making tools, i.e., skewers, awl, clay tools, nails, metal dental picks. Be creative and look in your kitchen and garage!

• Galkyd medium

• Gamsol

• Galkyd Lite

• Mineral or baby oil

• Large variety of paints to share

• R&F Pigment Sticks to experiment with

• Stencils, brayers, and scrapers to share

• Texture-making materials to share

• Mark-making tools to share

• Charcoal and graphite pencils

• Loose charcoal and graphite

• Red film viewers

• Pan pastels

• Baby wipes

• Gloves

• Tissue paper & newsprint

• Steel wool

• Cotton rags

• Sandpaper

• Wax paper

• Notebook with handouts