Children in Cold Wax
& Oils

Not at all! This class is designed to guide you from the very beginning. I start with proportions of a child and warm-up exercises before we jump into the full projects. If you’ve never painted a portrait before, you’ll learn everything you need. And if you already have some experience, the cold wax techniques will add a completely new dimension to your work.

Absolutely — that’s the whole idea! While I provide reference photos so you can paint along with me, the techniques and skills you learn apply to any child photo. Many students use their own family photos to create personalized portrait paintings of their loved ones. That’s what makes this class so special!

Cold wax medium (like Gamblin) is mixed with oil paint to create a thicker, more buttery consistency that’s perfect for building layers and texture. When used for portrait painting, it adds a unique, almost magical quality — your painting becomes a textured, tactile artwork that looks completely different from a traditional portrait. The textures tell part of the story alongside the figure.

You’ll need cold wax medium (I recommend Gamblin or Zest-it), oil paints, palette knives, a brayer, and rigid surfaces like cradled boards or panels. For Module 3 we paint on paper, so you’ll also need some heavier mixed-media paper. I go through all the supplies in detail at the start of the class!

This class is designed for oils and cold wax medium specifically. Traditional cold wax medium (Gamblin, Zest-it) is oil-based and not compatible with acrylics. If you prefer working with acrylics, check out my other classes that use Powerwax — a water-based cold wax medium designed for acrylics!

In this class, we’re not trying to paint a photorealistic portrait. Instead, we create expressive, textured paintings of children that capture their personality, energy, and spirit. Using cold wax and palette knife techniques, we build up layers of texture that make the painting come alive in a way that’s completely unique — you won’t find these effects in any other medium!

This is one of the biggest challenges in figurative cold wax painting — and exactly what Module 4 (Children on the Beach) focuses on. I’ll show you how to build a rich, textured background first, then layer your figure into it so it feels like a natural part of the painting rather than pasted on top. It’s the secret to creating cohesive, dynamic portrait paintings with depth.

While this class focuses specifically on painting children in cold wax and oils, the techniques — layering, palette knife work, integrating figures into backgrounds, value studies — absolutely apply to adult portrait painting as well. The main difference is the proportions lesson in Module 1, which is specific to children. Everything else transfers beautifully!

A value study is a simplified painting that focuses only on light and dark tones, without colour. It’s an incredibly powerful tool for portrait painting because it helps you understand the structure of light on a face before you start adding colour and texture. The bonus module walks you through creating a beautiful value study of a little girl — once you master this, your portraits will have so much more depth and dimension.

Forever! Once you enroll, the lessons and reference photos are yours for life. There’s no rush — work through the modules at your own pace. Many students come back and repaint the projects using photos of different children — each painting turns out completely unique!