Introducing my latest book

I’m thrilled to announce that my new book, Annie Sloan's Room Recipes for Style and Colour, is officially launched next week…

With 300 inspirational photographs, I really hope you'll enjoy tucking into its 192 pages. The book examines several key interior design styles and features stunning photography from Christopher Drake (who I've had the honour of working with on all my most recent books!). 

Christopher Drake on our shoot for the Neoclassical chapter

My publishers (CICO Books) have done a cracking job in the production and printing and it looks good enough to eat (well, it is called ‘Recipes’). Seriously, it’s probably the book that comes closest to epitomising what I have been about for over 30 years and I feel tremendously proud of the finished result.

Felix Sloan, my son & co-author

That pride also comes about because this is the first book my son, Felix, and I have written together. As a graphic designer and skilled painter, Felix has been instrumental in helping me put together my last 4 books, assisting on photoshoots and helping me with painting behind the scenes. 

He was especially hands-on in the design of the Annie Sloan Work Book. Now my middle son has turned his talents to co-writing and I think the results speak volumes.

Sources of inspiration

It’s been something of a journey of discovery* for Felix and I, not just in putting the book together but in sourcing the 9 styles featured in the book. Along the way, we met a group of very generous and supportive homeowners who opened their doors to reveal some stunning room recipes. A big thank you to furniture designer Tim Gosling for his refined Neoclassical apartment, to the caretakers at Stola Herrgård, the epitome of Traditional Swedish, designer Virginia Armstrong and her ever-so-stylish Modern Retro London home, interior painter and photographer Janice Issitt and her so Boho Bucks Cottage, vintage fair collector Madeline Tomlinson and her rose-revived Vintage Floral cottage, oil painter Alex Rusell Flint and his très chic French Elegance schoolhouse, antique collectors and dealers Rob and Jane Slater for their truly Rustic Country abode in the Peak District, photographer Paul Massey and his wife Jules and their Coastal Cornish cottage, and Emily Gray and her fab Amsterdam Warehouse apartment. 






More than a coffee table book

And as a special treat, Felix and I filmed this short video to introduce the book to you all. You might recognise the backdrop from the cover of the book. Enjoy!

Yours, Annie

PS * One among many interesting discoveries in the book: The attic featured in Vintage Floral was once the studio of distinctive English landscape and portrait artist Graham Sutherland.

True Blue

It’s great to have Napoleonic Blue back in my Chalk Paint® colour range here in Europe; and for all my customers around the world who've been familiar with it for years, here’s a timely reminder of just what a deep, rich and warm blue it really is.

My inspiration isn’t the diminutive Emperor Napoleon Bonaparte himself, but the classic French Empire style he put his emperor’s seal to. It’s like saying ‘Victorian’ to describe an era rather than Queen Victoria herself, and to that extent Napoleonic Blue represents a ‘regimented’ style: it’s dark, it’s rich, it’s a bit ‘masculine’, I suppose. The French Empire style under Napoleon borrowed wholesale from classical Greece and Rome in a grand style with military motifs and masculine colours (and don’t forget Napoleon had conquered Egypt, which was yet another classical influence with its vibrant azure blues, rich greens, red ochre and acid yellows).

Pigments – something borrowed, something blue

Some of my stockists have likened Napoleonic Blue to the colour of freshly picked blueberries, and even the perfect blue for creating the Union Jack flag (though I’m not sure what the French would think of this!). I see it as a homage to ‘ultramarine blue’, which was extracted from the semi-precious stone lapis lazuli – the incredibly bright blue pigment that was reputedly more expensive than gold in medieval times and the forerunner of all artists’ blues. It was used by some Medieval and Renaissance artists strictly to paint Mary and Jesus’ robes.

The history of colour in Art (which I studied) is a bit of a detective story and is fascinating in itself – but it boils down to the discovery of pigments. These are very fine powders sourced from the earth, from plants (and from dyes and synthetic materials). They’re a bit like spices with varying strengths and properties – some are opaque, some are like grains, some mix with oil, while others work better with water. There are actually no blue pigments you can find straight from the earth, so it’s always been a complicated and expensive process to get that 'true' blue (as with lapis lazuli).

Something versatile, something new

The great thing about Napoleonic Blue is that because it’s so rich and warm and strong and pure, I can see it being used in so many different ways. As a 'regal' stand alone, or with whites for example as you get all these pale warm blues. If you add dark wax it makes it silkier, deeper and even more gorgeous. Here are some neat ideas (below) found online:

The colour is absolutely tailor-made for neoclassical interiors but also works very well with the Swedish style. It’s a winning combination (well, it was for Napoleon till he met his Waterloo).

And although it refers back to the past it also has a more modern feel 1960’s pop art feel to it too – that bright blue used with orange or the bright-blue-with-bright-green mix so it looks fantastic with or over Barcelona Orange (which also gives it a truer navy blue) as well as with Antibes Green (see below).

Just looking at my Chalk Paint® colour card, you can see the range of blues goes from violet and lavender blues to grey blues, navy blues and the greenish hues of turquoise. Aubusson Blue for example, is from Prussian Blue, a cold, greeny blue, whereas Napoleonic Blue is a warm blue with the faintest hint of red (so it makes for a great purple – a favourite colour of Napoleon’s).

To get a warm blue you need an undertone of red and more red will give you a good purple especially with a bit of white added. When combined with Old White or Paris Grey, Napoleonic Blue can be used to create a really mellow farmhouse grey blue. When you start mixing my blues with other hues in the colour wheel, you’ll really notice just how vast the blue colour range is.

I created my paint, Chalk Paint®, from the idea of the artist using a palette to mix colours rather than robotically selecting from a bewildering kaleidoscopic chart – so go on, use Napoleonic Blue and be an artist!

Yours, Annie

P.S. I would like to thank my stockists and others for some of the ideas shown here via Pinterest and blogs which I acknowledge below. Apologies if I have omitted anyone! Search #Napoleonic on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram for more inspiration.

Finding Silver Pennies for the ‘grain sack dresser’

www.findingsilverpennies.com/2013/06/grain-sack-dresser-before-after.html

Bad Groupie for the Napoleonic Blue Piano
http://bad-groupie.blogspot.co.uk/2013/08/blue-painted-piano.html?m=1

Reloved Rubbish for the Union Jack chair
http://relovedrubbish.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/chalk-painted-union-jack-chair-on-wheels.html

Suite Pieces for the 2-colour distressed wood
http://suitepieces.com/2-color-distress-with-chalk-paint/

Kelly at TheLily Pad Cottage, for the boy’s bed
http://www.thelilypadcottage.com/2013/08/annie-sloan-chalk-painted-bed.html

Tea and Roses
www.pinterest.com/deborahwestfarm/

F-F-F-F-Frottage

I’m a big fan of frottage – in case you look it up I’m not referring to the slightly rude definition!

No, what I am referring to is one of my favourite paint effect techniques that brings a bolder and more distinctive ageing process to any surface – in an instant!

Here is an example I created on a big table currently sitting in my Oxford shop. It is simply painted with three Chalk Paint® colours: Aubusson Blue, Scandinavian Pink and Cream. 

You often see ‘the look’ in Swedish county house rooms, I think partly because of the old textured paints they have long used over all those wooden interiors, and partly in the way it is allowed to peel off over time. Here’s a fantastic frottaged door I recently snapped in Sweden while researching material for a new book:

There’s the rub
Actually the term frottage is French for ‘rubbing’. Quite simply you apply a second colour of thin, diluted paint to cover a dry base colour. Before that add-on colour is dry, you lay newspaper or plain absorbent paper over the paint and rub it down with your hands, then lift it off. Et voilá. The effect is to remove paint unevenly.

I’ve been using this technique and variations of it to achieve this look for 25 years. Below is a recent step-by-step example I applied to a door I’d already painted using Chalk Paint® in Duck Egg Blue.

1. Use two colours from the Chalk Paint® range that are close in tone. For the door shown below, I used Chateau Grey over Duck Egg Blue. After the first coat of paint is dry (or if you are applying to an old painted surface), dilute your second paint colour with water so it drips a bit.

                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                                  2. Use an oval brush (like my Pure Bristle Brushes) to paint a section quickly that is the size of your paper.

 

3. Lightly crinkle or crush your paper a bit on a flat surface first and then re-flatten it to get creases. Now again quickly press the flattened sheet of paper over the just-painted area and rub it all over with your hands.

 4. Peel away the paper carefully and you will see uneven and blotchy paint, some flat bits, some textured and some stripped back to the first paint.

5. Repeat the process 2-3-4, over the rest of the surface and then, when it’s all dry, add clear wax. 

For an effect that utilizes an old, crumpled piece of newspaper to get that uneven,“several-layers” look, ‘frottage’ ain’t bad! Try it yourself.

Yours, Annie

*Top 2 photographs by Christopher Drake. Last 4 images from my recent book, 'Colour Recipes for Painted Furniture and more', published by CICO, photography by Christopher Drake.

The Naturalness of a Swedish Christmas

Swedish Christmasses are absolutely inspiring and beautiful, and quite different to any others. They are not particularly ‘yo-ho-ho’, or tinselly, they are natural, earthy, and somewhat pagan – which appeals to my Presbyterian background and desire for simplicity.

St Lucia Day
Swedish Christmas holidays start with celebrations at home and in church of St Lucia Day (mid-December). For many of Nordic origins, Lucia is the bearer of light in their cold, dark winters. She comes with candles in her hair, pure white dress (with a red sash), bringing hot beverages and pastries. 

I first came across this charming ceremony after seeing St Lucia Day – Christmas in Sweden (1908) by Carl Larrson. His use of light, and depictions of domestic life played out in folksy room interiors – all painted furniture, painted everything pretty much  – made him a HUGE influence on me. 

Carl Larsson’s Country Look

It was Larsson who re-introduced Swedish painted furniture to everybody. It had been big in the 18th century in the countryside, and in grand houses, because they had ample amounts of wood to paint. Like William Morris he romanticized going back to one’s roots, to making handmade things. Larsson used the traditional colours of Sweden – the wonderful pinky and browny reds that are native to the country in the natural pigments. Just take a look at these two interiors below of Christmas and family life.

 Girl and Rocking Chair (1907)

Christmas Morning 1894

Gustavian

Together with his wife Karin, Larsson revived a kind of provincial 'Gustavian' style in their timber cottage Lilla Hyttnäs. Named after Gustav III, the original Gustavian style was grand, all white painted rooms with pale furniture on lime-washed floorboards (copying the French court of Versailles). The Larssons’ twist was more bohemian, using earthy red sienna colours and ochres. Larsson hand painted all his furniture and some of the details depicted here are exquisite. I have always been influenced by Larsson’s colour choice and of course we have our own Scandinavian Pink.

Getting Ready for a Game 1901

I also have a personal love for the Swedish way of doing things (be it celebrations or room interiors) as my granddaughter is part Swedish! A

Happy Christmas!

Yours, Annie

PS I will be going to Sweden next year in connection with a new book!

Painted Whites

Old White
 is a soft cool neutral undemanding white, 

like the old whitewash seen here in Norman Rockwell's depiction of Tom Sawyer and the painting of the picket fence! 

Old whites are soft like these old French pieces 

It's perfect for the Swedish look too

My Old White is the same colour as the old Lead White which is no longer made. 

Modern whites are bright made possible because of the Titanium White pigment

which was not generally available until the *1930/40s 

SO if you are painting something white and you want it to have that aged look, to be soft and sophisticated like an antique, 

don't paint it in bright white! 

*(Although it was identified in 1795 it was not until 1921 that an economical method of purifying it was established and then it became very popular because it was such a strong opaque colour) 

                                                                                        Annie

Swedish Painted Furniture
Gustavian Neo-classical  Decoration

Gunnebo Slott - an 18th century Swedish country house
 Everything of course with loads of OLD WHITE!!

Scandinavian Pink and Old White

Paris Grey

Aubusson Blue

Country Grey

Château Grey and Old White

 King Gustav III of Sweden was heavily influenced by French politics and French decoration.
After seeing what happened to the French monarchy in the revolution Gustav established a very strong royal rule, curtailing his permissive parliament's reforms
Although in many ways quite autocratic, his interest in culture and intellectual freedom led to a hugely rich cultural heritage. 
He introduced French Neo-classical style to Sweden

 Gustavian interiors were light and elegant interpretations of the Louis XVI style, with echoes of English, German and Dutch influences