Painting with Tiffany

In all the years I've known Tiffany, I've never actually watched her paint.

Touch ups don't count

Because of this, I kind of forget that her primary finishwork tool is an airbrush. She uses it with Jo Sonja painting medium mixed with bottled water in a fifty fifty ratio. Ever the chemist, she avoids tap water because the high iron and calcium can lead to paint discoloration over time.

Each horse receives approximately thirty thin layers of paint in multiple colors. 

This gives the model a depth of color I don't generally associate with airbrushed work.

This particular horse, a customized Sarah Rose Independence resin owned by Jodi Purdy, is going to be a tobiano. This will be done by hand with Jo Sonja acrylics, specifically a mixture of 75% titanium white and 25% warm white thinned to the consistency of whole milk. Tiffany's go-to paintbrushes small synthetic Sable filberts and rounds.

The pattern is first drawn on with white pencil then filled in with layer after layer. This pictures is approximately ten layers in.

Tiffany allows each layer to dry to prevent peeling. Then she inspects for bumps and sands them with 320 grit sandpaper and a light touch.

Here's the same model, eighteen layers in. Just the white part of a tobiano can take fifteen or more hours, and that's without mapping.

It's a long, slow process, but the results are worth the effort. I own a number of pintos by Tiffany, and they all have the smoothest, cleanest, whitest markings.

Lady Liberty, Breyer Clock horse with Salinero head, customized and painted by Tiffany Purdy, owned by Jennifer Buxton

I do want to spend a day watching Tiffany paint, but for now, this was a pretty good substitute. Thanks, Tiffany, for allowing us this cyber peek over your shoulder!