Mother's Day Gift Inspiration

On 10th May, people across North America, Australasia, Europe and other countries around the globe honour the maternal figures in their lives. I know that Mother’s Day can be a difficult time of year, for those of us who have lost our mothers or for those whose relationship has been strained, it can be a reminder of what we’re missing. For those of us lucky enough to have happy relationships - be they with our biological mothers, representative figures, or our own children – it’s a good time to reflect on how lucky we are and to show those people how special they are to us.

As a mother myself, I think the best thing your children can give you – especially the grown up ones, with their own busy lives, is some quality time and their attention. Thoughtful gifts that recognise mothers as individuals, creatives, and personalities all of their own with dreams and style and talents that go beyond the nurturing or domestic are touching to receive. With this in mind, I’ve compiled a list of suitable presents for the mother, or mother figure, in your life, celebrating whom may be finding it difficult this year with social-distancing and lockdown affecting many of us.

Charleston

My Charleston gift sets are inspired by the Bloomsbury Set and their creative retreat, Charleston Farmhouse. They’re a fabulous, fun, time-saving present for your mother which include everything one needs to complete a mini-makeover (for example a chair or a bedside cabinet). Inside each set you’ll find paint, wax and inspiration booklets to get your mum off on the right foot with her creative endeavours. The only thing she’ll have to worry about is where to display her proudly completed upcycling project when she’s finished!

Mini Project Pack

Similarly to the Charleston gift sets, these Mini Project Packs have all you need to transform a small piece of furniture – but rather than letting Virginia Woolf and her cohorts dictate the colour scheme, you can choose the colours inside yourself to suit your mother’s taste and style. I recommend choosing one neutral and one joy-bringing colour, perhaps a spring-like pastel. Your mum can have a pleasant afternoon painting and waxing and perhaps will rediscover a nascent love for painting, interior design, or DIY! The pride she’ll take in showing you her completed project will be a poignant reversal of the times you proudly showed her your own creative accomplishments as a child.

The Colourist 

The Colourist is a Bookazine which recognises that women don’t necessarily want to read diet fads and relationship advice. Packed with colourful inspiration, travel tips and home tours, this glossy coffee table time will have one’s creative juices flowing and imagination running wild – all from the comfort of one’s own sofa. And there’s no washing up of brushes to do afterwards! Perfect for the mum who doesn’t like to get messy, and who deserves a quiet half hour or two to herself with some stimulating reading material. Perhaps consider some chocolates too!

Detail Brushes

My Detail Brushes are a fabulous gift for the more experienced painters. If your mother has already painted a few pieces, she may be looking at extending her repertoire. These brushes have been specifically designed with tips that dictate four different patterns. Mark-making can be as simple as dipping brush to paint and applying to furniture (as demonstrated by my own son, Felix). More confident artists can paint freehand designs – such as this stunning piece by Maisie’s House. 

Pearlescent Glaze

Treat the Pearly Queen in your life to a little bit of sparkle with one of my latest products, Pearlescent Glaze. This water-based, light-reflecting finish creates a sublime, high-end, lustrous look and can be used over Chalk Paint® to create an intense opalescence, or mixed with very small additions of Chalk Paint® to create gently shimmering, translucent shades.  

Workshops

My favourite suggestion for a Mother’s Day gift is to contact your mum's local Annie Sloan Stockist and to book her on to a future Annie Sloan Techniques Workshop - a lovely treat to look forward to post-lockdown! Here, she’ll learn all the most popular Chalk Paint® tips, tricks, and effects to build her confidence and inspire her to get stuck in. Bonus points if you book a place for yourself, too, and spend some quality bonding time over a Chalk Paint® tin.

I hope there’s enough ideas here for you to give a gift that is thoughtful and will make Mothering Sunday, birthday, anniversary, or any day, a really special day for you and yours! 

Annie.

The Annie Sloan Gift Guide, issue 2

Due to the success of my last Christmas Gift Guide, I’ve compiled a new list of Chalk Paint® gifts for those you love, those you like, and those you really do have to get a gift for because they always get you something, all at different price points. 

Of course, I’m biased, but when I give a Chalk Paint® gift I feel as though there’s something inherently thoughtful about it: you’re giving an experience, an afternoon of therapeutic painting, an opportunity to be individual artistic and creative, and something a little out of the ordinary. These are my top picks for generous giving this Yule…give a gift that says “just for you”. From all-in-one blow out kits for those you really love to sweet Stocking Fillers for childrens' teachers, there’s something for everyone in your life. By purchasing these gifts from your local Annie Sloan Stockist, you’ll be supporting an independent business owner and helping them have a happy Christmas, too. Feel the 

feel good vibes, everybody! 

This is the big kahuna of Chalk Paint® Christmas Gifts. For just under £50 you can get your mitts on the essential building blocks of a proper Chalk Paint® collection. Chalk Paint® in Burgundy, Oxford Navy, and English Yellow represent each of the primary colours - meaning you can mix bespoke Chalk Paint® shades til the cows come home. Pure allows for a whole new world of lighter tones and pastel – and Louis Blue ties everything together. The Artist Box comprises the whole Chalk Paint® kit and caboodle together in one place, inside a beautiful wooden box that’s just begging to be transformed using the treasures within! In addition, you’ll also get a 120ml tin of Clear Chalk Paint® Wax, so that your loved one’s masterpieces can be finished and protected for years to come. Just apply using the Wax Cloth included. Finally, there’s two Annie Sloan Detail Brushes inside to encourage adding detail and truly unleashing one's inner artist! 

My Charleston Gift Sets come in three different colour ways. I recommend romantic Rodmell for the elegant classicalist in your life, funky Firle with its colour clashes of Scandinavian Pink for trendsetters, and Tilton for those who love rich, warm strong colour combinations. Each of these boxes can transform a small piece of furniture; a desk in a niece’s University halls, a chair in your brother in law’s study, or your best friend’s side table (the one where the wine bottle goes when you’re having an evening setting the world to rights). These boxes each contain three Chalk Paint® colours, a 120ml tin of Clear Chalk Paint® Wax and an Inspiration Guide. Click here for more information on each over on my website!

If your intended recipient is less of a roll-up-their-sleeves-and-get-stuck-in kind of person, or if their commitment to Chalk Paint® is so deep you think they already have e*v*e*r*y colour, or if they simply are a certified bookworm, may I present The Colourist: Collection - featuring Issue 1, Issue 2 and Issue 3. The Colourist is my love letter to colour, design, and creativity. Stuffed to the gills with gorgeous photography, stunning travel locations, and furniture to delight and divert! It’s been formatted to build an encyclopaedic archive to all the colours in the Chalk Paint® palette. These first three issues cover blues, greens, pinks, yellows, reds and beyond. Get all three at once in a rather sexy silver slip exclusively designed for Christmas and save £9.90. It’s basically a buy-two-get-the-third-free deal to give your gift giving a little extra bang for your buck! Always useful this time of year.

My Detail Brushes are supremely giftable – and, in my house a supremely important consideration – very easy to wrap! They come in a gorgeous presentation box decorated with an inspiring collage of suggested marks, patterns, and designs that the brushes themselves have been specifically developed to make. This is the gift to give anybody with an eye for detail, or one who is ready to take their furniture painting up a notch and add some extra vavavoom! Once you’ve already Chalk Paint® -ed everything in your home your only option is to add Swedish inspired details; or bone inlay-look splodges; or some ultra creative free-form shape making a la Lucy Tiffney.

Who can resist these petite metallic pocket rockets! My gorgeous Gilding Waxes spread glimmer and joy wherever you use them. The glory of metallic touches is that they go with everything. I recommend Copper for those who prefer a mid-century modern style, Gold for those in love with traditional French looks, and Silver for the minimalists amongst us. These are such cute little extras that add dimension and lustre to your work without any extra expertise required! Gilding Wax can be used on painted surfaces, bare wood, or even metallic furniture parts such as hinges or knobs to refresh. Perfect to pique someone's interest in the upcycling universe or for an OG devotee. Plus, who doesn’t love a little sparkle at this time of year?

Please note, all prices given here are UK RRPs and costs in other territories will differ - check with your local Stockist for accurate pricing for your region.

That’s all from me. I’m actually getting started on my Christmas cards because otherwise you can guarantee I’ll forget completely as the more exciting Christmas traditions demand my attention! Check my Instagram, Facebook or Twitter for daily updates – and I hope after reading this you can cross at least a few names off your gifting list!

Yours,

Annie

Janice Issitt's Moroccan-inspired bedroom

 

Today, I am sharing the last project from Janice Issitt's three months as one of my Painters in Residence. Her Moroccan-inspired, bohemian bedroom sings with colour – and has all been achieved with my Chalk Paint® palette.

The way Janice works reminds me of the way the Bloomsbury set painted Charleston Farmhouse – no surface is left unpainted. Walls, floors, furniture and ornaments are all constantly being painted, re-painted, re-worked and re-imagined. Janice works from her home – the various rooms in her house are her work studios and are therefore in a constant state of flux, much like my own!

Here, Janice has used Provence as a backdrop, and has stencilled a mandala shape onto the wall using Napoleonic Blue. She painted the bed in Barcelona Orange with a feather design in Florence. On the tiles on the floor, she used Provence, Napoleonic Blue, Old White and Arles. The Moroccan-style side table features Henrietta, Provence, Napoleonic Blue and English Yellow, and the screen is Old Violet, Barcelona Orange, Emperor's Silk and English Yellow. The furniture has been finished in my Soft Clear Wax, and the floor has been sealed using my matt Lacquer.

Next week, I will share the last project from Beau Ford residency, and following this I will be announcing my next set of fabulous Painters in Residence. I can't wait!

Yours, Annie

Follow Janice's on Instagram, Facebook, and her blog: janiceissittlifestyle.blogspot.com

And remember to follow #PaintersInResidence on Instagram and Facebook, as well as my Painters in Residence board on Pinterest.

Dialogue with a chest of drawers

I recently found a chest of drawers that I wanted to do something with but wasn’t quite sure what. That got me thinking about the whole creative journey from idea to execution to finish.

I want to take you on what is also an emotional journey, because it may be familiar to you (in which case it’s always good to share!), and if it isn’t, it probably should be!

Let your furniture speak to you

How I visualise decorating a piece of furniture is as important for me as the actual decorative paint technique and finish I end up with.

This chest of drawers had been ‘sitting there’, sort of staring at me for some time. I remembered the old adage (mine actually) that if you’re going to create an effect or finish, ‘allow the furniture to talk to you’ – because you have to be receptive to what the piece ‘wants’ [yes Annie communes with her furniture!]. Well let’s put it this way: if you try to impose something new on an old item like, “today I am going to paint a piece of furniture in a rococo style”, do you know what, it usually doesn’t work.

So yes, it’s got to be a finish or effect you’ve been wanting to experiment with, but it’s also got to be something that works with that particular piece of furniture.

This is especially true when you have a ‘difficult’ piece of furniture to paint, by which I mean you’re not sure which effect will work best, and/or the piece doesn’t present an obvious solution. And I do find some pieces can be ‘difficult’ – it’s not all plain sailing is it?

Back to the drawing board

And then there’s the fear of failure: this can have such a negative hold on creativity. Those creative talents (and we all have them) will flourish if you are able to be receptive to admitting something hasn’t worked out as you expected first time – and then changing it.

Don’t go “oh that’s awful!” and abandon it. Say instead “mmmmmm, okay, that doesn’t work, let’s try something else.”

For me the chest of drawers didn’t come with an easy solution, so it was all about being a bit lyrical, a bit ‘mindful’. That also means sometimes I have to leave it, walk away and come back again. There was no obvious decorative finish: instead it felt like it was just sitting there saying “c’mon then.”

From wash to white stripes to watercolour 

When I came back to it, I noticed it actually had quite a nice texture, the wood itself on the top was old varnish that had crackled a little bit. I thought it would be quite nice to keep some of that crackling and texture, so I decided to try wash drawing – spreading with a brush over the broad surface evenly enough so that no brush marks would be visible in the finish.

But when I looked at the finish it just didn't work for me. Then I had a bit of a brainwave: “Stripes” I thought.

I added a lot of water to the tabletop so it became very wet (there was paint in the water which made it thin).

Using my paint, Chalk Paint® in Country Grey, I painted opaque stripes across the top with the full width of the brush. It started to blend in a little so I took a dry cloth and just gently wiped the paint down.

So I have opaque-ish stripes, and thin, very water-coloury stripes. Then I thought “I know, I need a white line of opaque paint”. So I had three layers of stripes: grey, blue and white.

I added some Old White with a smaller thin brush as solid paint. I then sanded the chest of drawers to give texture, followed by a wax finish.

So to recap:

1.     Wash all over (use a fine diluted layer of colour on the surface you are going to work on)

2.     Paint translucent lines across the surface

3.     Paint thicker, watercoloury, wettish stripes that blur into each other

4.     Wipe it down with a cloth

5.     Add strong opaque stripes as desired

6.     Sand to give a texture

7.     Wax

I love the way watercolour works – it can be applied in various techniques such as wet-on-wet and wet-on-dry to obtain different effects. And you get thick and thin together. Working with wet paint also means the colours blur together a little bit creating new and interesting effects. Try it!

(By the way, I did also try the stripey look over the rest of the piece, but it just looked ridiculous and in the end I plumped for one colour – Chalk Paint® in Duck Egg Blue.)

‘Painterly’

The resulting painterly effect reminds me of something you might find in Charleston House in East Sussex.

Painterly? You ask. I’ve seen comments on my Facebook saying “is that even a word?” Well, yes, actually it is and it’s a word that painters and artists use a lot (and it appears to date back to c.1580s). To me it means ‘as an artist would paint’, and Merriam-Webster adds: “marked by an openness of form … and in which sharp outlines are lacking”.

It also felt painterly because the painting of the sea, which I found in a bric-a-brac shop, complemented the effect.

I also think it looks like a woven rug – with the textured paint strokes blurring into each other – and overall I am really thrilled with the finish.

Yours, Annie

Happy Birthday Virginia Woolf

25th January marked the 132nd anniversary of Virginia Woolf’s birth, which made me think of Charleston House in East Sussex – that bohemian bolt hole that has been such a big inspiration for me.

It was Woolf (ensconced in Monk's House four miles away) who recommended Charleston to her painter sister Vanessa Bell and her painter husband Duncan Grant: “The house wants doing up – the wallpapers are awful. . .” Virginia wrote, and Vanessa and Duncan certainly set to task on the interior painting and stenciling as well as decorating the furniture they found in junk shops. So you might say that without Woolf (who became a frequent visitor) the Bloomsbury decorative style would never have graced Charleston!

A Room of One’s Own

On a more personal note, as an art school student I read and loved Woolf’s essay A Room of One’s Own. It resonated with me during that time of women’s lib in the late ‘60s early ‘70s. It was a tremendously potent feminist text – how necessary it is for women to have their own room, their own space, just as men had their office or study. This was especially the case in the 1920s and '30s when such a space was virtually non-existent for women artists. In 1929 Woolf self-published the essay with her husband Leonard, as The Hogarth Press. (Right is the cover for the essay, designed by Bloomsbury artist Vanessa Bell.)

Woolf was writing about creativity for women AND men. Her book “Orlando” – with its blurring of gender or saying that gender doesn’t ultimately matter – had a big impact on me too (there’s also a film version with the gorgeous, androgynous Tilda Swinton). I feel Woolf’s saying it’s important for all artists – male or female – to be able to do their own thing.

The image below is a glimpse in to my room of my own – my studio in Oxford, which I also call 'the Potting Shed'.

The Colour Green

I hadn’t realised that Woolf tried to capture the sensation of colour through her writing and express herself much like her sister did as a painter – that is in a boho style, freeing up the brush strokes and being a bit wild.

Woolf also liked to decorate to help her relax from the rigours of writing and was especially fond of a light green which is evident in many parts of her home.

As a secondary colour, green covers probably the largest range of any colour and I particularly love green on old furniture. As for walls, well Woolf's choice may not be that far off a touch of Antibes with Old White from the Chalk Paint® range. You could also add a little English Yellow to create a lime green.

In my studio in Oxford, although I haven't painted the walls green, you'll find I've actually painted the rafters in Chalk Paint®, using a Woolfish mix of Antibes and Old White. This quiet space that I call my own gives me the freedom to think and do and create, just as Woolf believed everyone should be able to.

Yours, Annie