Because when people give me ideas for colors, it gets me out of my “standard” mental box of horse colors.

One of my customers has been patiently waiting her turn for a custom Boreas. I know she really wanted a grey but I don’t want to duplicate any colors or shades, and I’m pretty much to the point where most all variations of grey have been done. So she chose a dark chestnut tobiano. Which turned into last month’s “mistake” horse when I forgot to make the horse a pinto!

When she called me to tell me she didn’t want the solid chestnut, she suggested grey tobiano pinto. And whooo, baby, that is going to be an amazing choice! One I wouldn’t have thought of on my own!

The two photos below show the progress. I shaded the whole horse in grey first. Then with a paintbrush dipped in water, I wiped off the grey to place the white markings. I just spent the past 2 hours removing grey overglaze with the air eraser to get all that dappling.

Usually I paint dapple greys one section of the horse at a time, and then fire. (In order to cut down on accidents like me putting a big thumbprint in a finished area!!) But in this case I decided to go for it in one shot, because I felt it was important to work the shape of the white markings in one session and manage the balance of grey to white.

I’m also glazing a Brigitte Eberl/Horsing Around bone china “Sharif” Arabian in matte dapple grey this week (this Boreas is gloss), so it is the week for the greys. My back is complaining already. I can only work dappling for about 2 hours per session or my back just locks up, because it is such a precise and intense way of working.