To Madison area artist Rick Ross, everyone has a history and "so many layers."

So do his paintings. His abstracts can have up to 200 layers, he said during a visit to Carnelian Art Gallery earlier this week to show off his artistic process. Ross primarily works with oil paints and cold wax to create his works. He also paints landscapes and still lifes. 

Ross is an exhibiting artist as part of "Dreams In the Undergrowth," the gallery's May-June exhibition that's on display until the end of this month. His pieces adorn the wall that's to the left if you enter the gallery from the entrance closest to the Madison Mark apartment building entrance on King Street. 

"When I start working on pieces, I don't really have a plan," Ross said during the visit. "I might have some colors in mind, or I might have a basic composition, but I prefer to see how they evolve over time. 

"A piece may get anywhere from 20 to 200 layers in the process. I do different things in between each process. I will make marks. These are different oil bars. This is an oil pastel stick. The nice thing about the (cold wax) is that you can use all kinds of extra fun little things to enhance your projects."

Ross had brought some oil paints with him that he mixed with cold wax. The cold wax allows the oil paint to dry rapidly and with a matte finish, rather than with its usual sheen. 

"Instead of traditional oil painting tools, I'll use kitchen tools like scrapers," Ross said. "I'll use little brayers to roll the paint around. I'll just add layers back and forth. At some point, I start subtracting layers.

"I can do that a couple of different ways. This is the nice thing about the cold wax is that it allows you to go back in and scrape. You're just adding to the history of your piece."

Ross grew up in southern Missouri. 

"I always loved to doodle and paint," he said. "I started my first artistic thing in third grade. This cartoon called 'Baxter the Dog.' I drew him in all these different costumes. The kid started falling for him. Instead of doing homework, I would take orders and draw cartoons of (Baxter). I was trade them for Hot wheels or 20 cents."

The artist said he took a "long break" from everything and eventually went to school for sales and business management. After having a career in that field for some years, Ross found his way back to art as a stay-at-home father living in Mount Horeb with his wife. He found cold wax 10 years ago, and "it's been non-stop ever since."

He is inspired by artists like the late Pablo Picasso, as well as several fellow cold wax artists "that are doing really fun and innovative things."

Of being part of Carnelian Art Gallery's May-June exhibition, Ross said "this has been a cool experience."

"This is such a cool gallery. I love the fact that you're doing so much in the community. Madison has a fantastic art scene."