Cold Wax Painting Workshop in Knoxville, TN | Rachael McCampbell
What a wonderful few days of painting, experimenting, and creative play in Knoxville!
I recently taught one of my Cold Wax Medium: Abstracting the Landscape workshops to a terrific group of artists. This is one of my favorite workshops to teach because cold wax gives us permission to loosen up, take chances, build layers—and sometimes completely change our minds! It’s process-oriented work and therefore expectations go out the window –FREEDOM!
Students explored oil paint and cold wax medium through layering, scraping, mark-making, monoprinting, stencils, texture, reduction, and other printmaking-inspired techniques. Working on several small pieces at once (the 4-Up Loosening exercises) takes away some of the pressure to make something “precious” and encourages experimentation. Some pieces work beautifully. Some lead us somewhere unexpected. And sometimes the accidental ones are the best ones!
A big part of this workshop is also about abstracting the landscape. We talked about how to move beyond simply reproducing what we see and instead respond to shape, color, value, movement, memory, and a sense of place. For artists accustomed to representational painting, this can be both challenging and incredibly freeing.
And just look at what this group created! I love how completely different the work became from one artist to the next. There are quiet, atmospheric landscapes; bold geometric compositions; wonderful passages of color; delicate marks; energetic textures; and pieces that became entirely abstract.
One of the things I love most about teaching is watching that moment when someone stops worrying about whether they’re doing something “right” and starts asking, “What happens if I try this?” That’s where things get interesting.
Of course, there was plenty of laughter, conversation, lunch breaks, and general studio camaraderie mixed in with all that serious experimentation. Judging from the smiles—and the amount of paint everywhere—I think we had a pretty good time!
Thank you to this wonderful group of artists for bringing such enthusiasm, curiosity, and willingness to experiment. Teaching is always a two-way street, and I come away from these workshops energized and inspired by what my students discover.
Interested in learning cold wax painting?
I teach Cold Wax Medium: Abstracting the Landscape workshops at my McCampbell Art Studio & Workshop Center in Centerville, Tennessee, as well as at art schools and organizations around the country. Workshops are designed for artists who want to loosen up their painting, explore abstraction, and discover new ways of working with oil paint and cold wax medium.
