Wiinter Doldrums

It's just Another Rainy Day!  I'm trying  very hard to pull myself up out of a fierce attack of winter doldrums - no energy. . . no inspiration . . . .no painting.  And,  NO sunshine,  NO warm, balmy, Spring days that would fill me with energy and new projects in a minute. I am so envious of all of my blogger friends who are able to produce a painting a day with success. (Without a doubt they  live in sunny parts of the world.) Or. . .is this just an excuse! ! !

What I have been doing though is thinking a lot. And. . .  preparing a little for the better days.  The first attempt at using cold wax as a medium is continuing (posted March 2 "Cold Wax") but I've realized that, as everyone has said, a hard backing is necessary in order to allow for scraping through the many layers of wax/color.  So I have prepared four small ( 9"x 9") canvas swatches, I've mounted them on cardboard and am, finally, starting to prepare them. The small size  helps. . .  there's less canvas to cover!

As you see in the photo I'm using oil paint sticks and dry pigments as well as tube paint and . . .of course, my homemade cold wax medium which is hidden in an old can of oatmeal. To spread mix and scrape there are spatulas of various sizes as well as other tools.