The technique of building layers, while requiring more painting time, has several distinct advantages over oil painting. Layers offer a luminescence to the work, and this technique offers the opportunity to create ethereal, airy images and light glazes within a painting. Those who use alkyds consider the eventual richness of this layering to be one of the true attributes of the paint. The second method of application is that of the contemporary oil painter, where there are fewer layers, heavier brush strokes and stronger application of pigment. This style of work, despite the heavier texture, dries remarkably fast when compared to the drying time of traditional oils.
Brushes used with alkyd can range from the highest grades of bristle to sable and imitation sable.
All of these brushes impart characteristics of their own, some very smooth and some rich and textured. Sable brushes will yield the smoothest of surfaces and are especially suited to smooth glazes and light, thin layers of color. The opposite of that look might be the look imparted by bristle brushes. The earthy, linear look of paint applied with bristle brushes is very well suited to more impasto styles of work where texture is a vital element. Mediums that can be used with alkyds are the same as those for traditional oil paints.