I did post this in NaMoPaiMo once and people seemed to find it helpful, so I thought I would make a little entry about it. It's to do with oil painting in general, not just model horses.
Oil paints are named that for a reason. Back in the day of Leonardo Di Vinci and the like,
there were very limited options of paints. Most of which had to be made by the artist with pigment and/ or eggs (egg tempera). Then along came oil paints, usually preserved with linseed oil, it allowed artists to purchase high quality paint in a tube. It didn't dry out quickly, it didn't crack after being painted with, and it didn't smell like eggs! It was a total hit with painters (that is until Acrylic came along, but thats a different story).
Oils are well known for their long drying times and the artist being able to work slowly. You can come back a week later to your painting and keep blending, which is a blessing as well as a curse. For model horses, its more often a curse (usually because dust loves to find wet ponies). Oils if painted thickly can take over a month to fully dry... oh and it said that oil paint never fully dries, it just cures.
However, I have a little hack that I learned in university when it comes to oil painting. Instead of a conventional plastic pallet, use a piece of cardboard. The cardboard will absorb the oils from the paints and speed up drying time. Cheap oils can be cured within 24 hours, yes even a big blob of paint. On models, you can add a layer a day or so (depending on how much you do and how much you add). Just LOOK how much oil gets absorbed!
Anyways, I hope this little tip helps those who decide to pursue oil paint, models or not.
Comments