Earlier this year, I embarked on a quest. For months, I had been drawn more and more to painting, and I’d had some success with acrylics, but I wasn’t satisfied. Then I chanced across an article about surface. The article stressed that what we, as artists, do is create surfaces. Like a blinding light introduced into the dark, I realized that it was the surfaces I had been creating that felt out of joint. Not wrong, or unsuccessful, just not truly and authentically me. Along a parallel path, I had been learning more about oil and cold wax as a painting medium in one of those “the leg bone is connected to the thigh bone” kind of ways. Through a printer that I admired, I was introduced to the work of Sally Hirst. I loved Sally’s work and through it became aware of oil and cold wax. Things began to fall into place.

I dipped my toe in the water and found it welcoming. I loved the buttery texture of the medium, and the ability to build up satiny, translucent layers. I gained confidence and skill. Not long after, Upward emerged, the first of what I expect to be many oil and cold wax paintings.