Basket Case

Painting Leopard Appaloosas

It can turn you into a basket case! This is my youngest Payton, who loves to "camp out" downstairs sometimes. The basket case is Pixel, the cutest little cat ever. She was dropped off at our farm last summer. We have no idea how old she is, but is still only 5 pounds of sweetness that has to be involved in everything

I start with reference pictures, I think the key to painting a nice appy pattern is to learn to align the spots with the direction of the hair coat. Here you can see how the spots follow the hair lines on the face. You don't have to copy the pattern exactly, but following the hair lines is key.

Below is a black leopard appaloosa remade Alborozo. This horse is a multi live show winner and is owned by Gail Aspenwail. I paint all my appy spots by hand. I just do not like the overspray look that can come with airbrushing spots on, but that is my taste. Everyone has their own technique, thats what makes it fun!

I start out by shading all the indents with a light pink color by airbrush, with a layer of warm white over it. Then if I want a semi roan look a brush on some grey, chestnut (or black), and white pastels. I dab the powder on with a soft round brush. I use all kinds of pastels, even eye shadows. BUT the softer pastels blend super easy, so dabbing the color on works best, otherwise the colors just smear together.

Sorry for the low light, but you can see I only put color on the forehand and legs of the horse with the pastels, leaving the butt area white. I use dull coat to fix the pastels, it give the paint some tooth so the color layers up more.

Then the basic spot pattern. I use a small Filbert shaped brush and stroke each spot on following the direction of the coat. The spots are thin, you can see through them a bit, but this is only the first layer. Also, Kathy got to thinking and this horse has more arch in its tail than a Jennet should, (pasos hold their tails flat) so I am going to flatten out that arch tail tonight. Do NOT be afraid to change something you notice as a bit off once you start. Trust me, if you don't, it will call to you in your sleep!