Painter, writer and educator Rebecca Crowell has helped redefine how artists engage with cold wax medium. In this conversation, Rebecca reflects on abstraction, intuition, and the layered histories that lie beneath a painting’s surface. For artists drawn to process, materiality, and meaningful teaching, this is a rich and thoughtful listen.
You keep building these layers, and then you scrape them back. The earlier marks return to the conversation – and the painting starts to reveal something you didn’t know was there.
– Rebecca Crowell
Takeaways from this episode
- Cold wax medium invites exploration and ease.
Freed from the traditional rules of oil painting, artists can build texture, accelerate drying time, and rediscover the joy of process.
- Abstraction is not chaos – it’s considered.
Rebecca shares how intuition and intention work in tandem, offering ‘guardrails’ that guide her deeper into the emotional and visual language of her work.
- Collaboration can change everything.
The creation of her seminal book Cold Wax Medium with Jerry McLaughlin came from an unexpected email – and turned into a lasting, creative partnership.
- Teaching is a form of legacy.
Through books, podcasts and the Cold Wax Academy, Rebecca’s thoughtful teaching continues to shape artists' practices and expand the possibilities of medium and message.
- Every painting has more to reveal.
“I usually don’t give up on anything,” Rebecca says. Instead, she listens for what each work is trying to say – even through the muddiness, the mess, or the quiet.
Explore the artwork from this episode below
During the live interview, we shared some images of Rebecca’s artwork. Since you’re listening to the podcast version, we’ve made these images available for you below.
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