Oil and Cold Wax
Multiple Dates Available (See Above)
Class Time: 10:00am - 4:00pm
With Tutor: Karen Piercy
If you’re ready to push paint beyond the brush and discover exciting new ways to build depth and texture, this one-day Oil and Cold Wax workshop is for you. This dynamic medium invites bold experimentation through layering, scraping, subtracting, and revealing, creating surfaces full of richness, atmosphere, and visible history.
Working on paper with tools such as squeegees, palette knives, and brayers, you’ll explore expressive mark-making, transfer techniques, and the use of powders in a playful, hands-on setting. Throughout the day, you’ll be guided step by step in a supportive, creative studio environment where curiosity is encouraged and risk-taking feels safe. Expect immersive surface exploration, creative freedom, and the confidence to embrace new processes in your painting practice.
What Will You Learn?
- Suitable substrates for oil and cold wax (with a focus on oil paper)
- How to mix oil paint and cold wax to achieve the correct matte consistency
- Safe studio practices
- Building layered surfaces using a limited colour palette
- Applying thin layers with squeegees and other tools
- Creating and integrating texture
- Veil, transfer and reductive techniques
- Adding pigments and pastels
- What’s possible at wet, semi-dry and dry stages of the process
What You'll Take Home:
- 6–8 original oil and cold wax works on paper
- A new level of confidence working boldly with this dynamic medium
- A practical, repeatable layering process you can continue using straight away
- A toolkit of techniques for building texture, revealing history and creating richly layered abstract surfaces
- An 8-page handout covering all techniques and exercises, so you can keep experimenting long after the workshop ends
About Your Tutor:
Karen Piercy is a practising abstract artist based on the Kāpiti Coast, specialising in oil and cold wax. She has undertaken advanced training with internationally recognised cold wax artist Jerry McLaughlin (USA) and leading New Zealand practitioners Janet Mazenier and Anna Layzell, and has studied painting at The Learning Connexion.
Karen exhibits regularly, including with the New Zealand Academy of Fine Arts, at Artel Gallery (Waikanae), the Kāpiti Arts Trail and Manawatū Art Expo. She teaches process-driven oil and cold wax workshops focused on developing practical skills, confidence with materials and a strong understanding of layered surface techniques.
Website: karenpiercyart.com
Instagram: @karenpiercyart
“Oil and cold wax rewards curiosity — the more you explore the process, the richer the surface becomes.” – Karen Piercy
What to Bring:
- An apron OR wear old clothes (to avoid newer clothes being covered in paint!)
- A piece of cardboard or tray to take A4 size work home. It will be interleaved with baking paper.
Everything else will be provided by the tutor!
Can Anyone Do This Class?
Yes! This workshop is suitable for all levels, and absolutely beginner-friendly. If you love being creative, you’ll fit right in.
If you wish to cancel, email us at least 14 clear days before your class begins. You'll receive a full refund less an admin fee of $20 via the same payment method (e.g., credit card or Afterpay) if you cancel within this timeframe.
Unfortunately, refunds aren't available for cancellations with less than 14 days' notice, nor for missed classes within a series.
If you are required to bring specific supplies to this class you will be sent full details via email. Please make sure you keep the receive emails ticked at checkout to ensure you do not miss out on this information.
This class will be held on campus at The Learning Connexion located at 182 Eastern Hutt Road, Lower Hutt. Specific details of where on campus your class will be held will be sent to you the week prior to the commencement of your class
All our tutors are qualified and practicing artists who are skilled in specific art forms and regularly teach to support others in their own art practices.
Oil and Cold Wax
