Gamblin Cold Wax Medium

Create a variety of paint textures with Cold Wax

Gamblin Cold Wax medium: a mixture of natural beeswax (wax pastilles), Gamsol, and a small amount of alkyd resin. The term "cold" in Cold Wax painting refers to the fact that heat is not required for working with it. As the wax dries by solvent evaporation (Gamsol), rather than the cooling of the wax, as in encaustic painting. As the Gamsol evaporates out of the medium, the soft wax hardens to the density of a beeswax candle.

Unlike other Gamblin painting mediums, which increase the flow and gloss of oil colors to varying degrees, Cold Wax Medium makes oil colors thicker and more matte. It has a "short" characteristic and gives a clean break off of the brush or knife, retaining the sharp peaks of impasto. These working properties allow for expressive brush marks and the ability to carve into paint layers with palette knives. Cold Wax also gives oil colors a beautiful translucent quality, similar to the seductive surfaces of encaustic paintings. Note: packaging may vary.

• Cold Wax - Made from natural white unbleached beeswax.
• Mix directly into colors
• Makes oil colors thicker and more matte
• Cold Wax creates an ultra-thick, matte impasto
• For greater shine and flexibility mix with Galkyd medium
• Excellent in creating a variety of textures within a painting
• Gives oil colors a beautiful translucent quality

What is Cold Wax Painting?

Cold Wax Painting is any type of painting that heavily utilizes Cold Wax Medium in oil colors. In its own way, Cold Wax Painting blurs the line between oil painting and encaustic painting.

Cold Wax Painting

It’s a rare occurrence for one specific painting medium to have a whole genre of painting associated with it, but Cold Wax Medium is one such medium. Cold Wax Painting is not defined by subject matter nor the degree of realism or abstraction, Cold Wax Painting is unified by artists’ shared interest in experimentation, texture, and the physicality of paint layers.