Introducing the Annie Sloan MixMat™

Even though my schedule is hectic - I am lucky enough to be flying from one place to the next, visiting stockists, media and customers - I always try and paint everyday. Sometimes it’s just a quick sketch in my notebook, other times I can spend the day transforming whole sets for videos and photoshoots. Once I have an idea or style in my head, I work quickly, and use whatever I can get my hands on when working. I love mixing my colours to create hundreds of new shades, and for years and years I have been testing my colour mixes out on the closest surface to hand - my trusty studio table!

  

As you can imagine, after years of use, layers and layers of paint have built up on the table surface. They are uneven, cruddy and even though I think they look incredible, they haven't left me with the best, flat, even surface to work on! My son Felix, who some of you may know works with me here at HQ, was getting rather annoyed with my constant tabletop colour mixing!

To combat this the team and Felix came up with my new MixMat™! I’ve never seen a product like this before, its a complete one off, and now I can’t do any work without it.

The MixMat™ has been created to work on a flat surface, so it can be placed down on a tabletop or surface easily. It is made of a silicone-like material which both makes sure that paint doesn’t just glide off and also -rather cleverly - encourages paint to be taken up onto a roller or brush. I wanted something that I could use again and again without any leftover colour being absorbed in to the colours that I choose. A quick wash in warm soapy water is all they should need and I just use a wet sponge to get rid of any lingering pigment. Their handy shape and size means that, once you've finished using it, they can be rolled up and stowed away until the next time you paint!

It's perfect for mixing colours, for stencilling and stamping and for inspiration too! I wanted the design of the MixMat™ to be filled with tips, tricks and ideas, so on one side I have a whole host of of my own doodles and drawings to inspire your own free hand sketching. On the other side I have added a handy colour mixing guide. I talk about complementary colours, how to darken shades, clashing colours, how to create complex greys. My colours are meant to be mixed together, they have very little black in them so you'll never end up with a muddy colour when you blend them together.

I’ve fallen in love with the MixMat™, it has become an essential part of my painting toolkit, and I hope it will be part of yours too.

Yours, Annie