Painting In The Dark: The Right Way To Paint Wrong Part III

 

We're back at it with Ta’alaq, racing towards the finish line. I just applied White and MicroPearl layers to build up the opacity, over and over again. Ooof. As expected though, my biggest challenge was getting enough White on there so he wouldn't look wet but instead look "thin skinned," all the while avoiding an "outlined" effect with the muscles and whatnot. I did a lot of squinting to generalize things enough to get a better grasp of things plus I took him into different lighting situations to rattle my senses. I also took some pix with my phone camera and popped that into Photoshop on my computer to get a more objective perspective as well. Like if I reversed the image or turned it upside down or inverted the darks and lights, it helped to "fresh eye" the paintwork almost immediately by pinpointing areas that didn't look quite natural. It's easy to get lost in the process with this technique and bump yourself off track. You just stare at something long enough that's rather monochromatic and you can end up in the weeds pretty quickly with stylization as your brain tries to impose a pattern. With this particular paintjob though, nuance and subtlety needed to take precedence over pop and pizazz for him to read realistically. I hope I achieved that! I think I did. And now that I know what that special combination of intensity and subtlety is, I think I can ping it again without so much "fresh eye" rigamarole. Anyway...here's where he is now...

Now for the darker dappled portions! For this I used Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Colour in Ivory Black and Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Colour in Burnt Umber and Raw Umber with the Fast Dry White to create a neutral charcoal. And I mixed in the MicroPearl to keep the darks consistent in pearly finish to the pearlized White. Then I just adjusted the ratios of the paints then to get the various intensities I needed. But here’s the handy kicker, the Umbers naturally dry quicker (with their manganese content) so it forced the Ivory Black to dry faster, too, and with the Fast Dry White, I was golden. And even better, I could stick with traditional oils rather than have to dip into the alkyds. (But I do wish there as a Fast Dry Ivory Black, darn it. Oh well. I guess you just can't get around the antioxidant nature of carbon.) But the tricky bit here is that I painted these pigmented areas after the layering of the White and mica, so they're "on top," after the fact. This risked a lack of cohesion in those areas if I wasn't very careful so I deliberately painted them in a way that made them "sit back." In this the application of value and tone was critical to meld them visually with the white base. But why did I do that and not just paint the dapples alongside the White layering? Because I just couldn't manage it. Maybe it's my skill level or the technique, I don't know yet, but it was just too messy a prospect to attempt to paint the dappling alongside the layering. Plus, painting them simultaneously invited creep of the dark areas, and I wanted to avoid that. I wanted those dark patches more discreet and controlled. I also wanted them grainy-looking as dapple grey has a grain to it. It's not smoothly blended, powder puff-like. It has a speckle from the intermixture of the light and dark hairs, a kind of roany effect. Now had I painted onto a wet White base, painting them together, I don't think I could've really achieved that grainy look so well. But if that base was done and dry first, I had a much better shot. So, overall, I just figured to get the White done first, then I could worry about the dappling later. And all in all, it worked pretty well!

Colors used in the dappled areas: Gamblin Fast Dry Titanium White, Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Colour in Ivory Black and Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Colour in Raw Umber and Burnt Umber then added in was PearlEx MicroPearl.

Now yes, I know he looks like a bit of a mess. Uffdah. But imagine him with all his dappling and leg mottling...that's the prize to keep my eye on through this ugly stage. And I made his legs dark because they'll marry with the dark mane and tail he said he wants, to paint an exotic picture when he's all done (hopefully). Now to actually paint on the dark areas, I used a #0 angled brush and dabbed on the pigment on there in as chaotic a manner as I could muster to mimic that "organic chaos" so necessary for this effect, applying it onto the hinder, hocks, knees, cannons, and fetlocks. Then I used a small buff brush (an E.L.F. Blending Eye Brush, it's only $3) to even that out a bit and tap down any textural unevenness. Now the reason I didn't use the dab 'n' buff method to apply the darks was because that would've been too powder-puff smooth, orderly and prone to expanding out. I needed a controlled space and a messier finish. Trust me...it'll all make sense in the end! Then I took a clean E.L.F. Eye Crease Brush (it's only $3) and lightly dabbed those areas again, lifting paint off to create a more speckled finish, with tiny little speckles so they were more in scale (which was the white base showing through the lifted dark paint). This particularly worked like a charm! Yay! (New skill unlocked!) So I got my darks on there, chaotic and speckled...check! Then I let that first dark layer fully dry. Then I went back in with some light greige (with Micropearl) to add more speckling with the ELF Eye Crease Brush for more graininess. Why that Crease Brush? Because its grain is so tiny if I dry brush and dab it right, and I'm really focused on scale for this piece to maintain the illusion best. So I let that fully dry.

Now for the dapples and leg mottling...I used a small round brush to paint them on then used that E.L.F. Small Smudge Brush ($6) to futz with them a bit to get them to "sit back" into the overall look by shuzhing their edges a bit. But I did a first layer of dark greige then let that fully dry then I did a second layer in a more pale greige and let that dry. In other words, I didn't use pure White for the dapples or mottling right out of the gate, but I'm building it up in progressively pale griege colors with the MicroPearl mixed in. I'll leave a pure White/MicroPearl layer to strategically amplify things later, "popping" the centers of certain dapples and accentuating some of the mottling for punch.

Colors used for the dapples: Gamblin Fast Dry Titanium White, Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Colour in Ivory Black and Winsor & Newton Artists’ Oil Colour in Raw Umber and Burnt Umber then added in was PearlEx MicroPearl. I just made a medium neutral greige with these colors rather than using straight white out of the tube. I'll leave that for the last layers to add strategic areas of intensity inside certain dapples and mottling.

After that, I went back in with some dark greys (using all those same colors), to punch up some networking in key areas, using the drybrush method with that E.L.F. Small Smudge Brush. Then I used the greige and MicroPearl to paint in lighter "lightning streaks" on key areas on the legs and some "ghost trails" on the body softening that a snidge with the Small Smudge Brush and tweaking some of the dappling. 

Getting those dappled areas in there was its own process that asked for patience and methodical trusting the process — and a lot of drying time in between. Uffdah. Gotta lean into that process! Trust that the ugly stage is really a necessary step! Muscle through it! And use the drying time in your favor, as a tool to keep things "clean." Indeed, mixing colors together then applying to the piece produces a rather different effect than layering colors on top of one another, letting them dry in-between. What's more with all this, Ta'alaq was a brilliant, albeit unexpected exercise in not overworking, of going with my guts and first tries. And even more, of having a clearer vision of what I'm doing, to visualize things better before actually digging in, to know more precisely where I'm going with the pigments first before actually forging ahead. You see, I tend to be rather chaotic and back n' forth with my painting method, more by the seat of my pants. But I really couldn't do that so much here. Instead, I had to be more deliberate and strategic with oils and this color in particular, something I'm not quite accustomed to. So happily, that skillset got put through its paces and beefed up because that's always a good ability to hone! But why is this? Because of oils' long dry time. Like why end up with a lot more drying down time because you aren't nailing things first go? Ping it right out of the gate and that's a much more efficient way of doing things. So use that drying time, don't fight it.

So now that I'm done oil painting him and he's fully dry, let's talk about finish sprays. The only one I've used on oils so far is Testors Dullcote and I've had tremendous success with it. But if you'd like a more traditional varnish, one that can be removed with mineral spirits, or a different finish other than Dullcote's hyper-matte finish, try Winsor & Newton Spray Varnishes. They come in glossy, matte, and satin so you have some options. However, while you can paint oils and acrylics on top of Dullcote again for another go, it's not advised to do so with the Winsor & Newton varnish. Why? Because the Winsor & Newton is removable so whatever is painted on top of it will be removed, too. This has a big implication for painting on eyes, hooves, markings, and other detailing for me because I do all that in acrylics after the Dullcote rather doing them in oils before a finishing spray. (You need a Testor's Dullcote spray after your oils are completely dry in order layer on acrylics on top safely otherwise the acrylic cannot stick to the bare oils and will rub or peel off over time. So Dullcote just gives the surface some tooth and allows the acrylics to stick properly.) On the other hand, Dullcote is a permanent finish that can also be layered with itself and more oil paint, so if you want a permanent option, it's a good one (and just a light coating will do, no need to douse the piece which will cause a sheen, drips, and gumminess). Now why would someone want a removable varnish? Well, to allow for cleaning some years from now if the piece gets grimy from wear and tear. So if you want that option, check out those Winsor & Newton varnishes. So all that said...after he's been Dullcoted, acrylic-detailed, and haired, here's Ta’alaq finally all done...and voilá!...

Wow! He turned out so cool, even if I do say so myself! I just absolutely lurves him! I made this?! My big happy with his paintjob is that I successfully pinged all my goals, the peeking-out dark skin effect, the dimensional expanse of white, and the overall realistic dark-skin look. Now yes, he was a lot of misfires and sideways work to get here, but golly, was he so worth it all! Lessons learned. But on top of that, I pinged a fourth...that pretty sheen on him? That's not a satin finish, that's the MicroPearl showing through! So lovely! It adds just the right amount of subtle punch! The photos just do not capture how absolutely ethereal he looks in person though. Holy buckets! Really, in person, he just has the most lovely luminescent pearly beauty! Wowie zowie! I swoon! I gotta say, I think he's the most beautiful paintjob I've ever done because of it. Now as for those final details, I painted all that in acrylics (Golden Fluid Acrylics and Liquitex Soft Body Acrylics). Then I used black and dark grey ramie for his hairing because it's so fine and in-scale for an Arabian. So ta-da! Finito and I'm super happy with the result! Victory! 

Golly, Ta'alaq, you taught me a ton of amazing stuff and I'm so grateful! Yet I couldn't have learned all that good stuff without the mistakes, but that's just how it works, right? And I'm so thrilled to see that my hypothesis was right on the money! That working dark to light worked, and worked so beautifully with oils, this might become my modus operandi for greys in oils. A laborious, time-consuming modus operandi granted, but I just love the result so darned much, I just gotta! Liken note how the skin-grey is so different from the hair-grey...bingo! So thank you gobs and gobs, Ta'alaq! You were a true revelation who developed my oil painting prowess in the best and most unexpected ways! Oh, the power of FAFO in arting is such a wonderful thing!

Wrap Up

When it comes to painting, nothing is really verboten with me. I’ll paint light to dark and dark to light, back and forth, overlapping and patchworking, depending on the effect I want or the correction I want to make. I’ll just do whatever it takes to make it work. It’s chaotic, but it works for me, and I like the results a lot. I think it also adds layers of interest and complication that’s a benefit to the paintwork. Indeed, I find that each direction also has its pros. Like the light to dark gives a clarity, glow and “cleanness” to the color whereas dark to light imparts a richness, depth, and dimension. So if you know how to paint both ways, you’ve got any horse color on lock! The only thing I'll never do though is paint something on top of oils that can't stick to them, like acrylics, unless Dullcote is involved. I'm also not prone to using solvents with my oils. I dunno...I just vastly prefer a solvent-free approach to this medium. And no toxic driers either...yay! Thank you for that method, Heather!

As for this paintjob in particular, my big takeaway was this: Be patient, be methodical, and trust the process. But wow — that was hard at times! So often I had so many doubts! Am I doing this the right way? Is this going to work? Does this even look realistic? Does it even look good?! Plus I wanted to go faster, eager to get to that finish line and see the final result quickly. But yeah — the method and the media have their own pace I had to respect. That was maddening at times because I’m impatient. I like my questions answered quickly and succinctly, not drawn out and unfurling! But that’s the nature of arting, isn’t it? The process is the process, and you go at its pace, not yours. That’s always a good lesson though, a good reminder of The Bigger Picture in Life. It was the tortoise who won the race after all.

The second big takeaway was this: Even if you think your process is forwards-only, it probably isn’t. Sometimes you can back step to go forwards again. I do this all the time with acrylics so it was a relief that even with oils, I found that I could un-make whatever I made to re-make it again with relative ease. Phew! It just entailed a lot of dry-time between those corrections, but such is the nature of oils. 

The third big takeaway was this: Mixing colors and layering colors aren’t the same thing! That's to say, layering colors on top of another produces a very different effect than mixing them together and then applying them to the piece. So I couldn't just mix up colors to create corrections on Ta'alaq...I had to go back to the beginning and restart with layering, as you saw. This was an important albeit unexpected lesson in painting mechanics that I think will be super helpful for pinging effects in other pieces.

Conclusion

I hope this journey was enlightening to you in some way! I hope it not only gave you some new ideas and techniques, but also inspired you to jump into the painting fray as well! You see, for years my desire to paint was simply dead. Dead as a doornail, I was so burned out. Besides, the way I painted with acrylics made my hands hurt, and that became a major deterrent. Plus, I’m more of a sculptor than a painter, so if push comes to shove, I’ll choose sculpture over paintwork almost every time. But that said, oils, painting lessons, going to paint n' sips, and creating for NaReViMo have reawakened that desire to paint again in the most lovely way and now I’m eager again to put media to the test and my hypotheses on the block! In this, I’m approaching painting now as an exploration, a process of discovery and experimentation rather than “something I have to do." That’s to say, curiosity rules the day with my pigments, and it’s really switched up my motivations in the best way. When you ask “what if” with every new piece, your horizon suddenly shifts to something so much more exciting, at least it has for me.

And I gotta say, Ta’alaq was definitely a big “what if”! I really pushed myself with this guy, and while it was a little unnerving at times — which is good — it was never boring! I’m of the belief that if you aren’t a little bit uncomfortable in your arting, you aren’t pushing yourself far enough. Streeeeetch for that brass ring! Push past that comfort zone! Great things are just within reach if you take the risks! “To embrace chance is to invite serendipity,” said Aloo Denish Obiero. So very true! And serendipity — the happy accident — is a super beneficial part of the creative process. In fact, the more fertile a ground you can plow for a happy accident to seed, the better! Honestly, the way I approach my own work is to do just that so in this sense then the “click” I need to call “done” is essentially the recognition of all the happy accidents that happened that I carefully left alone, as they should be. They're gifts from the Universe! If I'm doing it right then, my finished piece is just one big happy accident that made itself. Woot!

So I hope this creative adventure has you thinking down new avenues and considering new possibilities because the ones I played with sure were a blast to explore! I mean, Ta’alaq has certainly got me thinking in new ways and I’m excited about which direction to go from here! Like is exploring metallic micas next? Maybe I need to create a Teke maquette! And how far can I push this MicroPearl? Because gosh, wouldn’t it be so pretty with a palomino or champagne? QH and Morgan maquettes! Or do I try this dark to light on a bay or chestnut? Maybe I need to do a drafter maquette! A warmblood maquette! Or maybe with an isabella or pearl? An Iberian maquette! Whee! So many options! But that’s the beautiful thing about asking questions with each piece you create — each answer spawns new questions with new inspirations that take you in a dozen different new directions at once. Indeed, “Inspiration exists but it has to find you working,” said Pablo Picasso and he’s absolutely right on the money. The more you art, the more art comes to you! So pick up a model, get it ready to paint, and then dive into those pigments with wild abandon in the spirit of discovery! Let "what if?" pilot your course and you're well on your way! Maybe you too can learn more of the best wrong ways to paint and give your portfolio a nice big ol’ shakedown! Doing it wrong never felt so right!

“Painting is poetry that is seen rather than felt,

and poetry is painting that is felt rather than seen.” 

— Leonardo da Vinci

Painting In The Dark: The Right Way To Paint Wrong Part III

Painting In The Dark: The Right Way To Paint Wrong Part II

 

Introduction to Part II

We're back with my grand experiment of oil painting Ta'alaq's white-grey color dark to light. In Part I, I talked about the goal and the initial primer and basecoat layers. I also talked a lot about oil paints and how they dry because that's often a question that folks have when it comes to this kind of paint. Besides, we need to know a bit more about our chosen medium if we're going to avoid problems later, right? As for myself, I don't usually use driers or other mediums. Instead, I lean into the linseed oil as a medium and alkyds if I want to speed anything up. But for the most part, I work with oils' natural drying time rather than trying to force anything as a matter of course, but I have that luxury, don't I? I don't paint for a deadline so I can let something sit for weeks or months if need be. So if you need your oil paints to dry faster, consider doing a deep dive into the links provided in Part I as there's a lot of good stuff there. And, as always, experiment on junkers to get a feel for things and to see how they perform before using that stuff on your actual piece. Who needs a headache, right?

Anyway, okay...so as a reminder, here's where I started: Ta'alaq in charcoal grey done with an alkyd paint first layer...

So now that we're at the launch site, let's blast off!...FOOM!...

SECOND AND THIRD LAYERS

Now there are two things I wanted to avoid with this dark-to-light approach. First was a wet-horse effect that’s easy to stumble into with this method, especially with a white-grey. If I wasn’t intense and careful enough with the progressive layers of White then, he’d look like a white horse hit with a hose rather than a dark-skinned grey horse with a fine coat. So there was that tightrope to walk. But there was another: It’s alarmingly easy to slide into stylization with this technique by “outlining” the muscles in dark grey by only painting the “plateaus” of the muscle surfaces and not getting adequately into the muscle grooves, if that makes any sense. So I had to make sure I painted White into those crevices well enough so he’d look realistic rather than “outlined,” making for yet another balancing act. In short, there were a couple of ways I could royally hose this up, both entirely dependent on how savvy I was in progressively applying the White. A lot of squinting would be involved with this guy, a trick you can use to generalize the look of what you're doing for a more objective view.

As for the colors I’m using for the actual painting, the white is Gamblin Fast Dry Titanium White because it dries a lot faster than Windsor & Newton Titanium White. Really, the latter can take up to two weeks to dry and I just don’t want to deal with that with all the layers I'll need, so I’m opting for the Fast Dry option. 

Why did I opt for that when there’s the even faster-drying Gamblin FastMatte Titanium White? Why that choice? Well, because the FastMatte paint uses an alkyd resin as a quick-drying binder whereas the Fast Dry uses linseed oil as a binder, but it's modified to make its polymerization process happen faster. And I like that linseed oil consistency better than the alkyd consistency as it's more luminous and smear-y, more like beautiful oil paint…because, well, it is oil paint. That wasn't an issue with the alkyd Ivory Black because that was just the basecoat. But for actual finessed smearing around of paint, I prefer the linseed oil base for "feel" and effect. So Fast Dry White it was. Now as for the dry time difference between Fast Dry and FastMatte, the Fast Dry is right in between the FastMatte and normal Titanium White, and I can live with that. Not as speedy as the FastMatte, but I figured it could work close to the class timeline all the same. 

 

*Note: FastMatte was discontinued in 2024. Doh! There is a Gamblin Quick Dry White that uses an alkali refined linseed oil to dry quickly, being nearly the same product as the Fast Dry.

The trick to layering on the progressive opacity of the White was two-fold. First, you need excellent lighting. I highly recommend the Redgrass studio light. It's not cheap at nearly $300 but it has been a game changer for me for nailing tones, effects, intensities, and colors far more accurately, and with far less eye strain and a lot more clarity. If you don't want something so expensive though, try an Ott Light. These are fantastic as well and will really be one of your best tools in your painting studio. Because when it comes to painting, lighting is everything! Your paintjobs will only be as good as your lighting! Indeed, your lighting, your paint, and your brushes are your painting success trifecta! Get the best you can afford. But one caution with lighting: A lot of lighting today, particularly LED lighting, has adjustable "temperatures," those usually being natural (neutral), "warm" (skews to the reds and golds) and "cool" tones (skews to the blues and greens). So make sure the temperature of all your lighting is all the same if you use multiple lamps, and ideally with the natural setting. Like don't mix warm and cool light and expect to ping your tones accurately. Those temperature differences will confuse your brain and hose up your colors, and right under your nose. So pick one temperature and stick with it for all your lights, whether natural, cool, or warm. In this then, don't mix incandescent and LED lighting as the former skews to the warm spectrum and the latter to the cool spectrum (unless it's adjustable into a warm setting). As for the second trick with the White opacity, having a "gas pedal" with its intensity was useful. For that then, I found myself drybrushing a lot for the control it afforded. So how did I do it? I just put a bit of paint on my brush, brushed a bit of it out on a shop towel (use this specific brand because it doesn't shed) and proceeded to strategically smear it onto the surface. If I needed to buff it to even it out, I simply used an E.L.F. Eye Crease brush because its size gave me more control in tight areas (and it also doesn't shed and it costs only $3!). In fact, E.L.F. make-up brushes make great buffing and drybrushing tools for oils! I use them almost exclusively now when I oil paint.

However, after all was said and done, after even two layers, the result was icky. Like seriously stupid, being all patchy and totally wrong! Aaaaah! What a mess! Oils don't drybrush like acrylics, like not at all! Instead of setting down paint, you just smear it around, creating "donuts" of color and unevenness, at least in large expanses. Blast it! It works fine in small swatches, but not large ones. Darn it! So here's where I ended up...

Not happy. So not happy with this result! But in a roundabout way, this was actually a good thing! Why? Well, I chatted with Heather about some solutions, and she suggested a couple of glazes to fix the problem. Glazes! Never in my life would I have thought to use glazes to fix this problem, but of course! So that's why getting in the weeds was a good thing: I learned something extremely useful I wouldn't have learned any other way! This is just another example of how FAFO can be so helpful in your long game by burbling up solutions in unexpected ways. Really, if I hadn't screwed this up so badly, I would never have learned that glazes can be a fix, and believe me, that morsel is now neatly tucked into my bag of tricks!

So now I'm wondering if glazes were the answer from the beginning! I may have to retry this approach again, but starting out with glazes rather than drybrushing? Hmmm. I shall cogitate that.

FOURTH, FIFTH AND SIXTH LAYERS

So after an off-white glaze made of Titanium White, Ivory Black, and Burnt Umber, his patchiness was evened out and now I also had an off-white base to strategically lighten for highlight. I'm still debating if I'm going to add some shading into him as well at this point, as his dark base was supposed to do that. But where I am now, that kinda got kiboshed so, yeah...I think I'll add in some strategic shadowing to add oomph and mass. Anyway, here's where I ended up after the first glaze pass...

He's darker in life than he appears in the photo, he's that off-white. So I had to let that dry for a few days then I went in with the second corrective glaze, a dark glaze made of Ivory Black, Burnt Umber with a touch of Titanium White that I applied in strategic areas for his dark skin...

Now I think I'll continue by adding another darker off-white glaze layer. I just want him darker so I have more room to play around with the Whites more. So using Titanium White, Ivory Black, and Burnt Umber in a darker mix, this is what I ended up with...

Now I think I'm finally ready to restart in earnest. Phew! My plan still is to add progressive and strategic layers of fast-dry Titanium White mixed with MicroPearl to add lighter areas and highlights but this time not with drybrushing. No no no! Said like Edna Mode, "No drybrushing!" Instead I'm going to proceed with the paint-n-buff approach Heather taught us. That is you just get the paint on there with a brush then carefully buff it out with a mop brush. But I'm going to do it in a highly controlled way...hopefully. We'll see how that works! Pray for me!

Regardless, I think those E.L.F. eye crease brushes will be instrumental here because their smaller size allows me to buff with greater precision. In essence, they're just small mops. Like I want to highlight the tops of certain muscles, but on a Classic size like this guy, a big ol' mop brush would be overkill. So fingers crossed!...here I go!...

SEVENTH LAYER

I'm bound and determined to make this approach work, darn it! There has to be a way, right? So this is all FAFO as I fire shots in the dark to see what works. I have to admit that I'm still getting used to oils smear-y texture. I'm so used to acrylics' "stickiness" insofar as you lay down a color and it's on there. Not so with oils. And you want to keep your oil layers thin for smoothness and shorter drying times, so you work more in like Photoshop layers, if that makes any sense. Then letting each layer dry before proceeding helps to keep things clean and punchy otherwise effects can get too diffused or muddy. Like it's temping to just lay down more paint to make a correction, but that's exactly the wrong thing to do! You risk over-diffusion, speckling, brushstrokes, and long drying times if you use too much paint in one go. Let it dry, then proceed. So anyway, here's where I am now with the following restarted layer of White and MicroPearl on him...

As you can see, I'm re-strategizing my approach insofar as I'm approaching him now as dabbing an off-white greige onto key areas and then buffing it smooth. This is producing a skim of pale greige but not in the patchy, icky way that drybrushing deposited. It's much more even. But even now, I can tell this is going to take a lot of layers. And I just have to trust the process. Really trust that process...because right now? He doesn't look so good, does he? A bit grainy and uneven, I grant you. But with additional layers buffed out, it should all make sense little by little! But note the dark skin showing through in certain parts like the elbow, flank, the base of the ears, and areas of the face? That's the whole point of going this direction, of allowing the dark "skin" to echo in the white coat in an organic, natural way. So we'll see how that pans out. As for his off-white greige color, it's Titanium White (Gamblin Fast Dry Titanium White) mixed with a snidge of Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, and Ivory Black. I mixed the Umbers together to create a neutral brown which would then work with the Ivory Black to skew the White away from pure White in the way I wanted...a neutral whisper of a grey in the greige spectrum. And then I also mixed in some PearlEx MicroPearl and then two drops of linseed oil to reanimate the paint into the proper buttery, fatty texture. The brushes I used were a #7 filbert to dab on the paint and a #6 make-up puffy brush as a buffer. But overall, this approach doesn't offer the exact amount of precision and control I was hoping for, but maybe I've got it wrong. Maybe the full expression of my vision can't come until the last couple of coats and I'm expecting too much, too early. Probably the case. I need to be patient and methodically work in stages with this approach, and trust that dang process. You see, I've discovered that predominantly white horses aren't so easy in oils...in fact, they're darn tricky! At least going at it from this direction, dark to light. Any which way, I'm hoping that this new fresh way of applying the White layers will work better. But then again, it could all end in tears. Abject failure is always on the table.

EIGHTH TO TENTH LAYERS

So in these layers, I just continued with business as usual, layering on the off-white to build up the layers. So far then, this is three layers of off-white, done in the dab 'n' buff method, over and over again.

Lookie there...my idea is working! This dark to light direction can be done! But it's not over 'till it's over, right? So let's see where all this takes me. Now that said, I am coming pretty close to his pure-White and mica highlights to finish this stage off, but I think one or two more layers of griege will be just the ticket. Then after that, his dapples and darkened legs. Now you may be wondering why I'm not doing his dappled areas along with all this white work, and that would be a good question. The answer is three-fold. First, it's above my skill level right now. I think I don't have that level of control yet, and it would just end up being a big mess. Artist, know your limitations so you can either blow past them or stay within them, and know the difference! Second, it would invite creep, and I need those dappled portions to stay discreet and contained. And third, I want to create a grainy look to the dappled areas for realism, but that's very difficult to do with a wet "ground." So if I just do all the white work, let that dry, then go back in with he dappling and dark legs, I think I'll have a lot more control and realism. Well, that's the plan. It could all go sideways.

I do have to admit something though...as much as I adore oils, the issue of the handhold is a real annoyance to me. Like those forelegs. After his body dries, I have to go back in onto his forelegs to catch them up to the body, and that really strokes my fur backwards. I want to move forwards, not backwards! Argh! But boo hoo for me...I'm just being a big stupidity whiney baby waby. The truth is, it's a small price for all the benes oils offer. Get over it, Sarah, and just play along. Patience, embrace patience. Live the mantra!

Anyway, here he is with all his off-white griege applied followed by the pure-White/MicroPearl highlights on his body for dimension. Didn't the effect just turn out so marvy?! I am flabbergasted at how well it worked! I honestly didn't expect it to go as well as it did! So then I added on his facial work, which is playtime for me. I love shading and highlighting the face because you can achieve the most ethereal, subtle effects that look so touchable and thin-skinned. So here he is with all this on him...yay!...

So now 'tis time to add on his dappling and dark legs! Yes, remember, he's a light dapple grey, not a white-grey, so I have to get those darks on there. I have to say though...I know. Because I kinda feel like I'll be ruining him, too, marring all that beautiful white work. I'm so tempted to stop here. But no! I must stay on target because I need those lessons. He has a lot more to teach me and I'm intent on absorbing it all. So next time, we dive into darks and dappling!

"You can't use up creativity. The more you use, the more you have."

–Maya Angelou

Painting In The Dark: The Right Way To Paint Wrong Part II

Painting In The Dark: The Right Way To Paint Wrong Part I

 

Introduction to Part I

Back in September 2025, I took a second round of the grey painting class lead by Heather Bullach, oil painter and teacher extraordinaire. My first round with this class back in 2023 was transformative, but it took me nearly two years to finish my lesson horse, Wahy (pronounced “why-he-on” which is Arabic for “revelation”). He just had so much to teach me, it took me that long of intermittent work to figure it out and for my subroutines to digest it all. But learned it all I did, and I learned it so well that I naturally decided to dive in again to put his lessons to work in a new way, on Ta’alaq (pronounced “ta-alikun” which means “brilliance” or “sparkle” in Arabic). How so in a new way? Well, as a much lighter shade of dapple grey, a white-grey, because I thought this would provide a new challenge unlike what heavily-dappled Wahy presented and I was eager to test my new skills. 

But lo…did this turn into an unexpected twists n’ turns journey of discovery and hard-won revelations! As such, I’d like to take you along with me on this curious adventure in the hopes that maybe you’ll find some of what I explored helpful and inspiring. And if you’d like to take one of Heather’s wonderful oil painting classes, go here to learn more. And don’t worry, she makes oils completely friendly, easy, affordable, and fun! And no icky chemicals! Yay!

So let’s just dive right in and get this party started!...

The Goal

Out of all the types of grey to choose from, why did I chose this particular super-light phase of grey? Well, for two primary reasons. First, I love the look of dark skin peeking out from underneath a fine coat, sometimes found around the elbow, flank, chest area, base of the ears and such sometimes seen on “thin skinned” breeds like the Amazigh, Arabian, Teke, and Marwari. I just think it’s cool plus it’s a real challenge to capture effectively in a paintjob so it looks like dark skin and not just paint shading of some kind. I’ve only done it a couple of times (timidly) on my own work previously, and more boldly on a 2025 NaReViMo horse, Ibn Monsata, inspired by the greys Thomas Bainbridge painted in the 80s and 90s. I also gathered a bunch of reference photos of this effect so I’d get the intensity and placement right, too. Then secondly, vast expanses of white on the body can end up looking flat and boring so I was curious to see if I could liven it up by using oils with a certain strategy, the same strategy that could potentially mimic that dark skin effect all by itself. 

So what was that strategy? Welp, it was to paint the “wrong” way, from dark to light! See, across media, more or less, we’re typically advised to paint light to dark, of starting with your lightest colors and then getting progressively darker. And this makes absolute sense for certain effects and certain media so it’s not an untrue tenet. For what I wanted to achieve in this particular paintjob though, I thought going at things from the opposite direction would be just the ticket. Why was that? Well, I hoped that applying a dark basecoat and then painting progressive layers of white on top wouldn’t only lend dimensional interest to the expanses of white, but would also recreate that dark skin effect in key areas. Two birds, one stone. Ultimately though, I hoped this approach would lend a more realistic feel to the paintwork overall by mimicking the underlying dark skin grey horses have under their coats. Now I’ve already gone this direction in acrylics with two older VCMs of mine, Rhymnik, a customized PAM I did back in 1989, and Rhynegade, a customized CMOW I created back in 1991. It worked great in acrylics, but I was curious to see if it would work in oils, too. You see, I suspected it would work really well because of oils' luminescence, and end up looking particularly super cool. At least it was in the vision in my head, but we all know about the impossible perfection our visions embody! So Ta’alaq was painted entirely on this curious wing-and-a-prayer idea. Would it all work?! Can I do this? Will this all end in bitter tears? Well, the only way is to futz around and find out, right? You betcha! Make FAFO work for you!

The Start

PRIMER AND BASECOAT

So to start this safari, Ta’alaq was primered in Dupli-color Sandable Primer in White (ideally allowed to dry for at least two weeks to de-gas and truly dry). Then I basecoated him in acrylics with make-up sponges first to create a really good, sturdy layer and then with an airbrush to get an even layer and into areas I couldn’t reach with the sponge (ideally left to dry for up to a month to really evaporate the moisture out). 

Acrylic colors used for the basecoat: Liquitex Soft Body Titanium White and Soft Body Mars Black, mixed into a medium grey.

Note on the Dupli-color Primer: This is a thinner, more transparent type of primer so don't gob it on to make it opaque. It'll do its job with one of two thin layers just fine. Indeedy, it's "tight" and chalky in finish, and provides good adhesion to the surface plus a solid "tooth" for pigment.

FIRST LAYER

This entailed two coats of an alkyd paint so no acrylics would peek through in the dark skin areas. Call me a purist. To create this first layer then I mixed together an alkyd black, an off-white, and a brown to create a neutral medium dark grey. Specifically, the brown was added to counteract the very blue bias of the black so it would better mimic a dark skin tone. Then I painted that on and buffed it smooth, then let the initial layer dry about two days then I added the following layer then let all that dry for about two weeks when the class started. Ready for class! Phew...just in time!

Now I used alkyd paints here rather than true oil paints because I just ran out of time. Ideally, I would’ve used full blown linseed oil-based oil paints, but I simply needed this first layer to be dry very quickly for class. But why was that an issue? Because true oil Titanium White and Ivory Black take for-ev-er to dry, sometimes up to a month, and I just didn’t have that time. In contrast, alkyds use a fast-drying resin rather than an oil as the binder so they dry much faster, in as little as three to four days. And with having to apply two layers for a truly opaque, even finish, I needed that quick-dry feature big time. 

Alkyd colors used for the first coat: Winsor & Newton Griffin Alkyd Ivory Black, Winsor & Newton Griffin Alkyd Mixing White, and Winsor & Newton Griffin Alkyd Burnt Umber.

Six cautions with the alkyds: 1. They have a rather peculiar and strong odor, so if scents bother you, especially chemically-smelling ones, avoid these paints. 2. You have to work fast and in sections when you brush on 'n' buff out. Those who've taken Heather's classes will know what I mean. So with these paints, just do a body section then buff, then the next body section then buff, etc. You have to do it this way cuz this'll all start drying on you pretty quick and you don’t want a weird finish. 3. Wash your brushes immediately. This stuff dries quite fast! Go go go! 4. These paints stain like bananas, so wear studio clothes or a smock or apron when using them. Like the Black took a pure white brush and permanently stained it charcoal! 5. An alkyd paint basically uses an oil-based polyester resin rather than an oil to suspend the pigments whereas oil paints use an actual oil, often linseed oil or sometimes walnut oil, safflower oil, or even poppy seed oil. As such, alkyds dry far faster than oils,  to a hard, durable glossy finish. In terms of use, they were designed for underpainting, but can be used just like oil paints given you work faster. In fact, you can mix them together with oils to speed up oil's drying time. However, only layer alkyds on top of oils when the oils are truly totally dry as the different drying times can lead to cracking over time otherwise. And be careful layering these paints with traditional oils if you're impasto painting as the different drying times can lead to cracking over time. Remember the "fat over lean" rule! But that said, the way we paint our horses is with super thin layers, so I'm not sure if we'd have such a problem. Maybe? No? I don't know as I've not tested it yet. I guess just make sure that your oil layers are completely dry before proceeding with alkyds.

What’s more, I also had some PearlEx MicroPearl and BrambleBerry Super Pearly White Mica I toyed with using in the White but I was concerned it would interfere with the effect I was after. So I toyed with them on a junker first, opting for the PearlEx MicroPearl as I preferred its finer grain. Now I didn’t use a whole lot as this guy is an Arabian and not a Teke, so I dabbed in a medium-ish amount. But, wow, I was happy to discover that there was zero interference and what actually happened was — as promised — a beautiful pearly sheen that mimicked a slicked out coat so nicely. So heck yes I decided to include it in the White! Oh my gosh is Ta’alaq going to be stunning if things pan out as I imagine! I’d just have to remember to put it into every layer so it would all be cohesive.

Oil Paints and How They Dry

Okay, before we actually dig in here, let’s talk about oil paints and how they dry because this sort of stuff is important to know. As we probably already know, oils take longer to dry than other paints like acrylics, watercolor, and gouaches. However, this gives artists a lot more “open” time to manipulate the colors, textures, and whatnot, often resulting in a beautifully blended, smooth surface for the purposes of our particular brand of paintwork.

But what are oil paints? Well, in the most basic sense, oil paints are made of pigments suspended in an oil medium, usually linseed oil. However, walnut oil, safflower oil, and sometimes poppy seed oil are used as well. This oil medium helps to give oil paints their famous luminosity and translucent quality as well as their richness and intensity of color along with their lovely, fatty, buttery texture. Even so, it’s the nature of these oils that contribute to the drying process of the paints. That’s to say, it’s the oil that “dries” in your paintjob, cementing the pigments in a solidified body forever.

So why is “dries” in quotations? Well, technically, oil paints don’t dry, they cure. In this, they cure in a process of oxidative polymerization in which oxygen is absorbed and peroxides are formed, creating a cured polymer body. Said another way, it’s basically the exposure to oxygen that initiates the curing of the oil paint into “drying,” forming a strong, durable layer of pigment. This is in contrast to acrylics and watercolors that dry when the moisture in them evaporates.

Now some will tell you that oil paints never really dry, but they actually do, only it can take a very long time. Like they may be dry to the touch on the surface, but the paint underneath may still be wet and unoxidized. As such, some paintings can take months, even years to fully dry. And oil paint dries in stages ranging from a couple of days to even some years later. Knowing these stages is important in order to make informed decisions about subsequent steps like continuing on (if you restart too soon, you can lift up the previous paint), glazing, creating certain effects (like scratch roaning), and especially when to varnish. These stages are:

• Dry surface: The paintjob feels dry to the touch on the surface while the underlying paint remains wet. This process can take hours or days, usually about 24-48 hours, generally speaking.
• Dry to the touch: The paint can no longer be easily smudged when touched carefully, but the underlying layers are still wet. This stage can take many days to a week.
• Solidified drying: The paint is dry to the touch and also won’t smudge, but some areas may still be soft and damageable. This stage is a good one to apply glazing, but it’s still not ready for varnishing. This stage can last weeks or up to many months.
• Fully dried: When the paint is fully cured and solid so no part of it is soft to be damaged by smudging or squishing. The paintwork can now be varnished safely. This stage will take several months or up to a year, or even more, depending on the thickness of the paint layers.

These dry times can be manipulated, either sped up or slowed down, but only to a point. For the most part, the cure time is the cure time and we just have to work with it. Specifically, the dry time is influenced by these factors:

• Environmental conditions: Obviously, exposing the paint layer to the O2 in the air will initiate the cure. However, the presence of UV light, ambient temperature, humidity, and air circulation can speed up or slow down the dry time. For example, a dry, warm room with good ventilation and exposure to UV light (like sunlight) will facilitate faster drying whereas cool, humid, dark conditions with poor air flow will slow it down, often significantly. Indeed, UV light, or sunlight, can increase dry time as effectively as a siccative (a metallic salt drier), but they shouldn’t be allowed to dry too long in the sunlight as this can actually cause damage to the oil binder. As for too much heat, like a hair dryer, that's ill-advised for drying oils. A hair dryer will evaporate the water vapor necessary for proper oxidation and can even cause your paintwork to crack. The hair dryer can also cause solvents in the paint to evaporate faster which can cause fumes to be released into the air to impact your health. But more times than not, a hair dryer just doesn’t increase the dry time enough to make it worth it. Conversely, cold delays drying, which is why you can store your unused palette in the freezer for later use. High humidity also delays the dry time, however, normal humidity (65% - 75%) affects oxidation favorably because the absorption of water during the process is necessary. Indeed, oils left to dry in too arid conditions may not polymerize properly, losing a significant amount of their oil volume to gaseous vapor during the process which can become a problem with thickly painted layers such as on an impasto painting.
• The thickness of the paint layer: The thickness of the paint film has a direct influence on the speed or slowness of the dry time. In this, the thicker the layer, the longer it’ll take to dry. This is why impasto paintjobs can take years to fully dry. However, we usually paint our sculptures with exceedingly thin layers, just a whisper of paint, which is why they can dry significantly faster and be ready for further steps or varnishing so quickly, relatively speaking.
• The use of driers or which medium used: Drying agents improve the absorption of oxygen by the oil and therefore accelerate the formation of peroxides, i.e. they speed up the polymerization process. (The Old Masters added mineral driers to their varnishes like lead, in the form of lead white pigments, minium or red lead, and lead tin yellow, or manganese in the form of umber, zinc in the form of zinc sulfide, iron in the form if iron sulfide, and calcium in the form of lime.) For instance, Liquin, Galkyd or alkyd mediums such as Walnut/alkyd can be added to speed up the dry time. Adding in some alkyd paints can speed up the dry time as well. Driers that use cobalt, zirconium, and others can also be used, but some can be toxic and can cause cracking or wrinkling so research them first. This website is a terrific resource to start your exploration of driers and this is a great one for exploring mediums.
• Pigments: Different pigments can speed up or slow down the drying time. For instance, some pigments contain minerals that speed up the polymerization process such as the Umbers (which is why they’re so often used in underpainting, particularly Raw Umber, which is often the fastest oil paint to dry), Cobalt Blue, and the Siennas. On the other hand, some pigments slow it down such as reds (especially Cadmium Red and Alizarin Crimson), yellows (particularly Cadmium Yellow and Naples Yellow), the Blacks (Ivory Black, Lamp Black, and sometimes Mars Black), and notoriously Titanium White. The Hues, cadmiums, and “transparent” colors also take a long time to dry because of their greater percentage of oil binder in them. As for the reason why Titanium White takes so long to dry and why something like Burnt Umber dries so quickly is because the White lacks the chemical properties or minerals (like cobalt or manganese) that act as natural drying accelerators unlike Burnt Umber with its manganese content. What's more Titanium White also contains titanium dioxide, a substance that slows down the oxidation polymerization process of the oil binder. Then the reason why Ivory Black takes so long, too, is because carbon, the primary pigment in Ivory Black, has an antioxidant property that slows down the oxidation process oil paints need to cure. What's more, Ivory Black often contains more oil binder for better flow because the super-fine particle size of the pigment creates a really dense paint film, which also happens to limit oxygen's access and thus slowing down dry time even more.
• Binders: The various oil binders can have different dry times as well. The most common oil used in oil paint is linseed oil, the fastest drying oil binder. However, poppy, walnut, safflower, and stand oil can also be found, each with their own properties. For instance, stand oil can be added to slow the dry time and create a glossier finish with less brushstroke texture. (Safflower oil can often be found in white pigment for a purer, less-yellow white paint.)

Now if you really want to slow down your dry time, you can use certain essential oils because they require oxygen to dry and therefore “steal” it from the oil binder, preventing the oil binder from absorbing it and so slowing its dry time. One such popular essential oil is clove oil. Indeed, putting a cottontail dabbed a touch in clove oil on your palette and sealing it up can nearly stop those oils from drying on your palette. It does this by creating an antioxidant-rich atmosphere on the sealed palette with its eugenol content. However, don’t mix the clove oil into your paints as this will negatively affect their durability when fully dry.

As for a fully dry paintjob that has softened for some reason, which has been observed in paintjobs done with poppy, walnut, or safflower oils, put it in sunlight outside (UV light) and it should harden up again.

Conclusion to Part I

Phew! That was a lot to process. We do need some basic working insight into our chosen medium though if we're going to be successful, especially when it comes to oils. I'd also like to reiterate how the thinness of our layers we paint on our sculptures doesn't present such a crisis when it comes to drying as it would on a normal oil painting and especially on an impasto painting. Truly, that thinness is a real boon and a great technique to get our paintjobs to dry relatively fast. Like on some, I can wait ten to fifteen days and then my paintjob is fully dry and ready for Testors Dullcote and eye glossing! Now note that I didn't mention solvents? I don't use solvents. That is a gift given to me by Heather's method, and I find that it works just fine for our purposes. But if you'd like to use solvents, here's a handy resource here and here and here. For cleaning my brushes, rather than a solvent I use Murphy's Oil Soap as per Heather's suggestion, and it works like a charm! It even smells nice, too!

In Part II then, we'll actually dive into my painting process on Ta'alaq and explore some of the challenges I ran into careening through this dark-to-light approach.

“I dream my painting and I paint my dream.” 

― Vincent van Gogh

Painting In The Dark: The Right Way To Paint Wrong Part I