Tips for painting a 9" x 12" Oil and Cold Wax Painting in 1 Hour

1708 Gallery has an annual event called the Monster Drawing Rally. Artists make a piece of art in 1-hour. Here are a few tips and I wish I was disciplined enough to employ most of these all of the time! See a process video!

1. Get all of your materials and tools ready and organized. Drink a large mug of coffee. This is obvious but critical.
2. Use a limited palette. If you select a dark, a light, a warm, and a cool, it is much easier to find your composition. The palette for this oil and cold wax painting is payne's gray, transparent orange oxide, asphaltum, and titanium white. You can always add some other colors at the end.
3. Consider putting your darkest value down first and use it to lead the viewer's eye through the painting.
4. Block in shapes but don't have them touch. After all of the shapes are blocked in, gently begin blending. This will help avoid mud.
5. Consider adding collage. This piece has collage in it. You can move the pieces around before committing to where that particular shape/color is going to go. This is efficient and saves time.
6. Incising and scraping into the cold wax and paint is a quick and easy way to add mark-making. 

Enjoy making your 1-hour piece! Go!