Pouring paint: cold wax and oil techniques

Pouring paint

Pouring paint is one of the cold wax techniques that I love and use quite often now. I use small ‘airplane’ bottles which you can fill with a mix of solvent and paint, dry pigments or charcoal or graphite powder. If you want to add more body to your mix, you could add a bit of cold wax medium. You can drip, splatter or pour the mix over your painting. Because of the solvent, the underlying layers will soften and you might disturb them if you go in when it is still wet. You have to leave it flat and let it dry thoroughly.

According to Gamblin, it is better to add a bit of Galkyd to the Gamsol if you do a pour. This would be more stable, and less likely to dry to a flat finish.

 If your painting looks a bit dull after a pour, you can oil-out the painting with a mix of cold wax medium and Galkyd. This will help remedy the dull appearance and, as the lady from Gamblin told me, be the preferred approach.

 After oiling-out you can continue painting with Cold Wax medium and oils over the surface.

If you want to learn more about the cold wax techniques, tools and how to paint with cold wax and oils, I have an online class called ‘Getting Started with Cold Wax medium’ which explains it all and in which we use all the techniques to make 4 beautiful paintings!

More info by clicking the button below:

As always, If you have questions, don’t hesitate to ask at marinatvb@outlook.com!