大象传媒

Barry Moulton is not a trained artist.听 In fact he had no previous art experience and painting with wax was something he fell into:

"It was strange really, went into a craft fayer almost by accident and saw someone painting with bee鈥檚 wax and an iron."

It was then Barry realised how exciting creating art with wax could be - he found it was so dramatically different and eye- catching (think Lord of the Rings and Harry Potter). He found that you can create all sorts of things and designs with wax as it鈥檚 versatile.

Barry gets to work melting some wax

"I still prefer fantastical landscapes," he says.听 Barry gets great responses from his work mostly it鈥檚 that wow factor.

"For a few people the colours are a bit bright," he jokes.听 However there doesn鈥檛 seem to be a target audience for Barry鈥檚 paintings.

Barry goes out to lots of events to share his passion, especially WI meetings and art groups.

He has done 12 art shows and festivals this year.听 He thinks he has sold around 500 pictures since he started working with wax about 20 years ago.听 His most expensive one to date sold for 拢250.

Painting with chocolate

Barry isn't afraid to experiment with other materials, three or four years ago he decided to give painting using chocolate a go.

"That was just a little experiment," he laughs.

"Most people sell chocolate don鈥檛 they, but the chocolate isn鈥檛 going to last as a picture, it's just interesting to do."

Barry's chocolate fantasy

So what happens when you melt chocolate? Barry explains:

"You definitely get a strong chocolate smell when you melt it, it behaves quite differently than the wax does.听 It鈥檚 far more sticky, it doesn鈥檛 set, chocolate doesn鈥檛 seem to dry so quickly.

"The wax sets almost instantly.听 You can pick up a wax picture after 10 seconds. A chocolate one wouldn鈥檛 dry for at least 30 minutes."听

He has never tried to sell a chocolate picture and laughs: "It鈥檚 more archival."

Teaching others

Barry gives tutorials in his kitchen (his work bench for his art).

"Sometimes there鈥檚 three or four of us around this table," he says.听听 He hopes he has inspired hundreds to paint with wax.

A blue landscape

So how does he make his pictures?听 He has an iron, a hot plate, a hair dryer and a range of utensils which seem to be every day items you'd find lying around the house.

Over the years Barry thinks he has produced tens of thousands of pictures; including small ones done at festivals.

"It's a surprising amount for me, coming from me being completely non- artistic," he says.

Barry is now looking forward to continuing with his art work and exhibiting at shows over the coming months.