Wax as a medium

[Rochelle Brown]

Greetings,

Yesterday I just finished moving across town to a slightly bigger place and I'm exhausted!

I've just recieved the new Pearl Paint catalogue where I saw a new set of products that pertain to wax painting. Included are small spatulas that are heated and used in the wax, color sticks, and a palatte with a heating element for keeping the wax at a workable temperature. The pallette is around $250. The colors are close in price to tubes of paint with traditional names like Burnt Umber and Titanium White.

As far as toxicity is concerned, the dry pigments are toxic when breathed in and are also cancer-causing. Apparently it is necessary to use resin in making wax paint. I received this information from the people who work in the local art supply store here in Bellingham. There is a book, the exact name of which I don't have at hand just now, that contains recipes for mixing mediums, including emulsions, temperas and encaustics. It is available in most art supply stores.

[Rochelle Brown]

The paintings mentioned earlier in the thread had distinguishable brush strokes, as if the paint underneath was already dry, almost like wax that was soft and had hardened. There was a beautiful sense of efficiency and confidence. All the paintings were of local Irish country landscapes with horses and cows within short walking distance of her home, and possibly backyard. The colors were so perfect that you could get lost in the painting and imagine sitting on the grass in the painting and looking at the pink clouds and purple mountains. There was an almost velvet look to the finish with no glossiness. This was at Merion Square, in Dublin right across from the National Gallery.

There were some who seemed to try to immitate her style and would complain that no one was buying their work. One thing she said was that she'd been a painting teacher for 20 years but hadn't the energy for teaching anymore.

[Andrea Evans]

Dear Rochelle,

I am very happy you found the set of wax colors with what you need to try out this medium. I looked up the Irish artist on the Internet. Apparently the spelling is Eileen Meagher.

This web address will take you right to her biography and thumbnails of some of her works.

www.lavelleartgallery.ie/artist.tmpl?artist=EileenMeagher
They are indeed beautiful.

I understand what you mean about the velvety surface of the painting. I managed to achieve this with one of my colored pencil portraits, but it takes lots and lots of time to build up the layers and does not give the translucency that the wax must. Seeing the brushstrokes and colors beneath the surface must be as hypnotic as looking into a precious jewel.

[Rochelle Brown]

Andrea,

Thank you for finding that website.

Now that I've seen it I should say that the paintings are beautiful on the site, but seeing them in real life is different. Computer graphics can't show the brushstrokes or true colors. When I saw her work it was going for 300 to 600 Irish pounds which was about $400 to $800. Every Sunday of the year the artists had an outdoor show.

[Khaimraj Seepersad]

Hello to All,

I had hoped to avoid the technical and toxicological information in these posts, but here goes.

Resin will harden your wax paint, but wax will not yellow or brown over time. A resin will. Better to use a small quantity of a harder wax.

Since wax never really "dries", it is a poor practice to add wax to a drying oil or vice versa. Plus, once again, drying oils will brown with time and may spoil your unchanging wax painting.

To avoid toxic dry pigments, use sensible hygienic
pratices, and look up oxide information in the
Pharmacopoeia. See your druggist, please, or Patty's Industrial safety books.

Never heat wax to a smoking state.

You can also render wax, water mixable. Once again, see Mayer for excellent and easy instructions.M aybe someone out there can create beautiful portraits in water-colour type wax work?

Khaimraj