Introduction
When Breyer asked me to design a colorway on my new Murgese sculpture for their 2025 Breyerfest Auction, I about fell out of my chair! What? Me? On Cosimo? Yes yes yes! I was so thrilled and honored, I couldn’t wait to dig in! So I anxiously waited for my blank Cosimo to show up and, wow, was I excited to see him in beautiful plain plastic, so full of promise and potential! Besides, I love the plain white plastic as it has a translucency that reminds me of parian (whiteware) porcelain a little bit. To tell the truth, too, it was neat to hold the blank slate in my hands, it being a full circle moment for me I just relished.
And his color just poured out of me, effortlessly and eagerly. It was uncanny. It was like I became a vessel for his self-actualization and I was just along for the ride. I love that feeling! Inspiration is a mystery and the Muse an enigma, but deeper still, becoming a vessel is a state of being so profound for an artist, in many ways it's what drives us passionately forward. So to give you a peek into the creative process of the acrylic-painted prototype for Lot #15, I thought I’d take you along in a play-by-play account of his making. Let’s just jump right in then, shall we?…
Ajaxing
I used a toothbrush and Ajax to duly scrub him clean of any hand oils, mold release, or whatever residue was on him, plus this gives the surface a bit of tooth. It’s really important to scrub clean your piece this way before primer because it prepares the surface for the hard work ahead. Just use cold or room temperature water though, not hot. We don’t want to create inadvertent bends and distortions in the plastic or resin.
Basecoat
The primer I used was Dupli-color Sandable Primer in White, which was allowed to dry for five days. Now it's a more transparent primer, not so powerfully opaque, but in the adherence department, it gets the job done while also not clogging up details. That's to say it's a very "tight" primer that protects your details really well plus it has a chalky finish that paint really sticks to well. But why five days to dry? Well, because I really want that primer to be hard, "cold," and fully de-gassed when I lay down the basecoat for a more durable finish.
For that then, the first acrylic basecoat layer was applied with beveled make-up sponges to create a sturdy membrane of pigment with just enough tooth to help the successive layers stick well. After that was applied, I used an airbrush to apply additional layers so that the color was even and opaque all over in a unified hue. Then that was set aside and allowed to dry for four days before I actually started painting. So why four days here? For the same reason as with the primer: Durability. But just as importantly, I also find that all this dry time helps to prevent a weird or tacky finish, which can be a real problem when painting before things are truly ready to accept paint.
Anyway, I decided to paint him with techniques that I thought Breyer would use in their factory so they could match him as closely as possible with their own paints and methods. So I didn't paint him as I would with my traditional drybrushing or color pencil methods, but instead in a “factory style” which would give Breyer the best shot at truly duplicating him. For instance, I used almost exclusively an airbrush because that’s what they would use in the factory. To that end, I also airbrushed his hooves rather than handpainting them because I figured that’s what they would be doing, too. So it’s little considerations like this I had to think about as I made my creative decisions. Anything I could anticipate in their methods I did to work in everyone’s favor. As such, he’s not technically a “classic Sarah paintjob,” he’s a “if Sarah painted at the Breyer factory paintjob.” It's a little distinction, but nevertheless, I still think he ended up looking like a "Sarah horse" all the same.
First Layer
I started by laying in the light color, beginning in the lightest key areas and working outwards. I'm using a lightish vanilla hue, placing it where my reference is telling me and where I want some pop. Note how I’m not dealing with dapples right now? I’m more interested in blocking in color first. Also note how I use this light color to add in muscle highlighting for more dimension? I also directionally highlighted his neck to catch those wrinkles. All in all though, don’t worry — it’ll all make sense in the end.
Soft Body Liquitex acrylic colors used: Unbleached Titanium and Raw Sienna
Second Layer
Now I lay in the medium darks to add coloration and more dimension to the coat. I’m painting a sooty palomino, so I’m aiming for a rich medium rusty chocolate. I’ll also start to add in some muscling shading for pop. Note how I follow the sooty pattern with the darks even early on?
Soft Body Liquitex acrylic colors used: Burnt Umber and Raw Sienna
Third Layer
Now I lay in the most intense darks, aiming for a neutral dark chocolate color. By "neutral" I mean that the target color be neither too "warm" nor too "cool," but be as true a neutral as I can get. You see, Burnt Umber, the most commonly used dark brown, is very red biased, but I needed something cooler yet still not as cool as Raw Umber (as my reference wasn't as cool-toned as that). The target color was right in-between, a neutral. So what's the trick? Mix Raw Umber and Burnt Umber together for a middle-of-the-road neutral brown then mix that with Ivory Black, and bam…I have my color. Anyway, note how I accentuated some key muscle shading, too, with this dark chocolate color? Gotta have that pop!
Soft Body Liquitex acrylic colors used: Raw Umber, Burnt Umber, Ivory Black
Four Layer
Dapples! I went back in with my vanilla color and laid them in, and also reclaimed and accentuated key light areas again to preserve and amplify pop.
Soft Body Liquitex acrylic colors used: Unbleached Titanium and Raw Sienna (my first layer color)
Fifth Layer
Now I go in with glazing to tint the dapples and selected areas in various thinned hues to add color, dimension, and glow while also compelling the dapples to “sit back” into the coat. I also glazed the muscle highlights so they make more color sense. Sooty palominos often look glowy, and clearly that’s what I’m aiming for here. Plus, I think the Breyer paints and techniques really produce a lot of pop n’ glow — which is so darned appealing — and I’m hoping that this approach will help that along even more when they translate this prototype with their methods and materials. So anyhoo, I wager all those lightened areas make a lot more sense now, now that they’ve been colorized with various golden and rusty glazes. So what I was doing in the first four layers was to create a strategic “white canvas” to allow the glaze to pop on top of it. In other words, those light areas were meant to intensify and purify the color of the glazes. And the neat thing about this technique is that you can go back in with your light color to add more “white canvas” portions wherever you want, to re-tint them with glazing to amplify them even more, even change them. In this way, you can create so many complex layers of color and depth and in a way that helps to avoid mud. And that’s important since it’s equally easy to over-complicate your colors this way, too. Really, it’s a delicate balance.
Soft Body Liquitex acrylic colors used: Raw Sienna and Burnt Sienna.
Sixth Layer
This is the adjustment layer where I brighten or darken key areas to pop the color and accent the sculpture, or futz with the glazing to adjust tones. Lots of back and forth at this stage to get things just so with the various hues. Now if this were my traditional paintjob, I’d really go bananas here. However, I have to paint like I’m in the factory so I have to rein it in. In other words, I have to first think about how Breyer is going to approach this paintwork and try to stay as faithful to that as I can so their translation is easier and more authentic. Creating a good prototype isn't just about creating an appealing prototype, it's also about creating something that's easily and truthfully duplicated in production with their methods and materials. Do that and you hedge your bets for a successful, consistent result.
Seventh Layer
Now I’ll add in the grey skin to the face and groin. Note how I didn’t use straight black? I used a charcoal color for softness and depth. But even so, I shot the inside of the nostrils and ears with black for dimension. It’s little things like this that can help a production paintjob along. Pro tip: Give the ears, eyes, and nostrils similar levels of intensity so the face looks more balanced, cohesive, and interesting.
Soft Body Liquitex acrylic colors used: Ivory Black and Taupe
Eighth Layer
Now I paint his mane and tail, and add in some shading and highlight for luxurious dimension and interest. I asked Breyer to give the mane and tail a pearly finish, too, like lovely little Augustus. So super pretty! Now note how the mane and tail aren’t stark white? It’s more of a light vanilla-y greigey-beige color? It’s important to get the colors tones correct in order for your paintjob to read correctly. See, we don’t want the piece to look painted, do we? We want it to look grown, organic, and real. As such, often painting in stark colors, especially stark white, can bust apart that illusion by looking more “painted” than grown, more artificial than organic, more contrived than authentic. Soften soften soften and mute mute mute when you can, and especially when your references tell you to do so. It just really helps along the sense of mass and organic realism. Plus, I thought that toned down color would be so extra beautiful with that pearly finish Breyer would pop onto him. It would really allow that pearl finish to shine!
Soft Body Liquitex acrylic colors used: Titanium White, Taupe, Ivory Black, Burnt Umber
Ninth Layer
It’s time to wake up his expression with eye whites and painted eyes! I also did his hooves and chestnuts. And yes, horses can move their eye orbs side-to-side, like a “cat clock.” I have many reference photos of them doing just that. In fact, my buddy and I even did an experiment with both my Dar and her Defiant some years ago and confirmed horses can do this. Pretty cool!
Soft Body Liquitex acrylic colors used: Titanium White, Burnt Sienna, Raw Sienna, Ivory Black, Taupe, Burnt Umber
Tenth Layer
Now this step is a final adjustment stage, of overall re-evaluation. What needs further futzing with? And I thought — moar dapples. Brighter and more of them! And I think it worked beautifully. I also thought I should deepen key aspects of his sooty factor for even more punch, so I did that, too. And then I went to work on his shoulders which I thought could use some lightening up to punch up the palomino color with a bit more clarity. And bingo…all that did the trick! Exactly as I envisioned! Love him! Then I signed him with paint and a small, pointed round brush. Never forget to sign your work!
Eleventh Layer
Now I let that dry for four days then as a finishing spray, I used Testor’s Dullcote to seal him up. Then I let the Dullcote dry for two days before handling him again after which I glossed his orbs with DecoArt Americana Triple Thick Gloss Glaze and then let that dry overnight. While that gloss takes forever to dry, it does give the most brilliant, glossy shine! It also doesn’t dissolve the underlying paint like clear nail polish can, so disaster averted. To apply it, I use a little round brush with a good point and clean up with water.
And voilá! All done and I just love how he turned out! Even better, I'm confident that the Breyer painting team will bang out their interpretation in fine order. What's more, along with the pearly mane and tail I requested, I also asked for a glossy finish to really make his color pop and glow even more! That Breyer gloss...it turns the dial up to eleven then breaks the knob off! This color will become so stunning with gloss! So spiffy! Now why didn't I gloss glaze the prototype? Because I needed the Breyer painting team to see his color clearly, not obscured by strong reflections in a gloss glaze. The team needed clarity more than anything else!
But gosh, I couldn’t wait to see him all Breyered up! What fun! So imagine my squeal when I finally saw the Breyer reveal in that auction blog post!...
Yeah, I died! The Breyer painting team did such a marvelous job translating the color, it's just flat-out impressive! It wasn't easy by any means. And it's such a treat to see the finished official piece so close to the original also because I knew then that I had painted the prototype properly for them. That was gratifying!
Trivia: This guy was originally supposed to be a sooty palomino tovero with a blue eye! Once I finished his sooty palomino color though, I just couldn't bear to cover any of it with white for the pattern. So I decided to leave him as is with no markings and I think the end result is stronger for it. In this way, this guy is a classic example of the importance of listening to your piece as you work. Really, I went into this paintjob fully inspired to slap a tovero pattern on him, but as he came alive, the louder he told me “no.” And because I’m a big believer in listening to your piece, I followed suit. A pattern and a blue eye just wouldn't serve him this time 'round. Point being, it’s okay if your inspiration morphs as you work. It happens. Sometimes it’ll even make a sharp directional change, and that’s okay, too. Just always listen to your piece. It knows what it wants, what it needs to be the best it can be, and it will speak to you if you listen.
Insights
Again, I find that it's very important to allow your primer and basecoat to really be dry before diving in. Especially the primer. Give it at least three days to fully chill out, ideally up to two weeks. This gives it time to truly dry and de-gas, and if anything weird is going to happen, it usually pops up during this time. Then at the end, when you’re finally done painting, give that final paintjob at least four days to fully dry and de-gas before applying the finishing spray. It can make a big difference. Julie Froelich, famous for the durability and stability of her materials, actually let her acrylic basecoats dry for thirty days before painting, and her paintjobs are absolutely rock solid even over forty years later! Likewise, let your finishing spray sit to chill out for at least two days, too, before applying glosses or whatnot. Then let those glosses chill out at least overnight as well. All this downtime can be a little bit frustrating, I know, but it can all make a big difference in the end. These materials, layers, and chemicals need their own time to process and so we need to work with them rather than rushing things to then have regrets later.
Pro tip: If you plan to ship your piece, I strongly urge those wait times. I also recommend gently wrapping your piece in unbleached muslin first, then in lightly sealed bubblewrap. Don’t put the bubblewrap directly onto the piece, especially if you haven’t allowed for the wait times. Same goes for TP or tissue paper. All that’s just asking for trouble. Our work needs to breathe and doesn’t do well hermitically sealed up in bubblewrap and tape. Why? I’m not sure, but I’ve just noticed that gumminess and tackiness tend to be generated when too sealed up for too long. Indeed, I’ve unwrapped sealed up Vintage Customs — pieces as old as forty years — and the whiff of chemicals you get when you unwrap them is still there. Never forget that these materials are not inert. So the more air they get and the more stabilizing wait time before you ship, the better.
Glazing is the powerhouse in this paintjob by tinting the lightest color into glowing golden hues. So the golden color wasn’t achieved by using golden tones per se, it was achieved through glazing which is why the paintjob pops so much. Somehow glazing just deepens and adds luminescence to a paintjob, and with sooty palomino, glow is everything. It has to look lit up from within and glazing is a super way to mimic that.
Raw Umber and Raw Sienna are the stars of this show. How so? Well, Raw Umber provided the brown coolness to counteract the strong red shift of Burnt Umber. Mixed together for a neutral brown then mixed with Ivory Black, I got my neutral darkest chocolate color for the strongest sooty areas which created lots of pop and dimension without being shifted too red. As for Raw Sienna, that produced the golden luminescence, that “sunset glow” so necessary to a sooty palomino. It’s also a translucent hue, making it even more ideal for glazing.
Avoiding a stark white mane and tail was important. Now it may look stark white, but it’s actually quite off-white in person. Because granted, it’s tempting, isn’t it? To make it clean, bright white? For that extra contrasty pop? But often toning things down produces a much better or more truthful result. For example, in this paintjob, the creamy light greigy-beige mane and tail adds interest, richness, depth, and more of an Old World feel to the piece. And I think this tone will really help the pearly effect I requested pop all the more into something really quite lovely with that golden coat.
In the sixth and tenth layers, the adjustment layers, there was a lot of back and forth between all the colors to get things just so. In this, it’s okay to go light over dark and dark over light, layering and layering until you get things just how you want them. So while you’ll often hear some insist that you can only go dark over light with airbrushing, my work is proof that’s not the case. I absolutely layer layer layer every color onto each other to get what I want, and it works! If you’re doing it right, arting is a free-for-all as you learn what works for you and what doesn’t. Not that there aren’t bad ideas when working with pigment, as not everything actually works, but the point is, learn the ways that work for you even when they break the “rules.”
On that note, I took some artistic license and made the color pop more than in my references. Why did I do that? Because I wanted him to be seen from space like the Luxor beacon. Or more specifically, he was painted with being glossed in mind. And so what’s better than gloss? A color that pops even more under gloss, that’s what! And if ever there was a color that truly did just that, it’s sooty palomino! So yeah, I wanted his color to be so vibrant, contrasty, and glowy, he’d literally grab your eye and run away with it. I wanted him to fascinate you, entrance you, and hypnotize you like a budgie in a mirror, and I trusted that would happen with his glossed Breyer counterpart!
Conclusion
So there ya go…the birth of my 2025 Breyerfest Auction Lot #15 prototype on my Murgese sculpture! What a blast! And it actually was a pretty neat exercise to factory-like paint him because it asked for an economy of decision and approach. Like I couldn’t complicate things too much as Breyer has to be able to translate things clearly enough on their end to duplicate him authentically. So I had to be as straightforwards with him as I could be while still delivering a lovely color. In other words, it had to be an economic airbrush job without looking like one. That’s always an instructive challenge to undertake! And I think I achieved that, I think I delivered something Breyer could duplicate quite nicely to provide the winning bidder with something truly special. Mission accomplished!
And I'd like to thank Breyer for this splendid opportunity to paint this Cosimo prototype for the 2025 Breyerfest auction! What a wonderful experience and a delightful challenge! But even more, thank you for giving me the free rein to paint whatever color my inspiration asked for which I think made a big difference in the outcome. I was able to let ol' Cosimo call the shots, and he knew exactly what he was doing all along!
"I dream of painting and then I paint my dream.”
— Vincent van Gogh
