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
