Christmas in South Africa

Christmas now seems a distant dream – I hope yours was a merry one. I was very, very lucky this year and spent Christmas in South Africa with my husband David and two of our sons, Henry and Hugo. My son Felix (whom many of you will know works with me here at HQ, couldn’t come as he and his partner Lizzy are expecting their second child in the next couple of weeks – we were sad they couldn’t be with us, but so excited about a new addition to the family!).

South Africa was really gorgeous, I loved it. I think it is one of the most creative places I’ve ever been – it’s incredibly inspiring and I’ve been trying to put my finger on why that is. I think in part it must be due to the extraordinary mixture of international influences and visitors dating back to the Seventeenth Century. I met some great people – I really enjoyed a conversation with my taxi driver on Christmas Day in Cape Town – as a self-identified ‘Cape Coloured’ he spoke three languages – Afrikaans, Arabic and, of course, English. Another lovely man I met whilst doing a wine tasting (it’s the law to do a wine tasting in South Africa!) told me his great, great, great, great, GREAT grandmother was from Indonesia. The cultural mix coupled with South Africa’s separateness and the Afrikaans heritage, based around farming and home-making, make this a peculiarly unique part of the world. I don’t know how, or why or what, but the effect on the country combined with fantastic weather and such diverse flora and fauna plus those inspiring views make it an astonishing, and very, very creative place to visit.

It *was* a holiday, but I’ve come back wanting to make things. I found a freedom of expression, a loose style – people don’t do fiddly, precise little things. It’s much more in keeping with the way in which I like to work – no restrictions, just pick up a brush or pencil and enjoy yourself.

Here are a few little sketches I made while I was there – I didn’t really make them with the idea of sharing them, but in my blog back in October, when I introduced my new Chalk Paint Workbook, I wrote that I always like to have a sketchbook to hand... and here’s the proof!

I also took advantage of the opportunity to pop into The Pause Room in Cape Town, and say hello to my Stockist there, Michelle Kunze. And, of course, I visited lots of galleries. The style is so craft inspired – African workers using traditional techniques to make tremendous, contemporary pieces. Above all, they’re not scared of colour in South Africa – not in the slightest!!

Finally, please indulge me by letting me share some photos taken by my son, Henry, who has a Facebook page. His photographs really capture some of the diversity and colour I loved so much!

Yours, Annie

My new Chalk Paint® Workbook

My son Felix and I have been working together again to create a really useful Chalk Paint® Workbook, grouped into sections, with handy pockets for storing pictures torn from magazines, fabric swatches or even paint charts. The first Work Book I created (published in 2013) had hints and tips on how you may develop your creative side, but this new one is more of a practical guide to working with the different key styles from my book Room Recipes for Style and Colour. In some sections, we’ve combined different but complementary looks; Bohemian and Floral Vintage or Modern Retro with Warehouse, with suggestions on how to make them work together and plenty of beautiful colour photographs in each section to inspire you. Room Recipes had step-by-step guides and plenty of how-tos – with the Chalk Paint® Workbook it’s over to you. 

I’m never without a workbook to jot down ideas, sketch out designs that have caught my eye or try for myself colour combinations that have inspired me. I’ve been using them for my designs since art school, but even as a child I loved filling a scrap book with bits and pieces that I thought were pretty or interesting and wanted to keep with me. Much as I love Pinterest (and I do love Pinterest!), nothing replaces having something in my bag, or by my bedside table so that I can actually draw out designs, or – importantly – use my paints to see how the colours will work (colours can get subtley distorted on the internet, and even in print).

But! I don’t want to be prescriptive – no-one will be marking you on this. Don’t get caught up in thinking you can’t draw, or worry that your ideas may not be good enough, just put them on the page, play around with them and see what you come up with. I’ve added plenty of tips and some of my own doodles on each page, to guide you through. Think of the book as a place where you can explore your ideas and let your imagination run riot. You may have a very fixed idea of what you want to do when you start a project, but I often find it best not to be too rigid with myself. I’ll have something in mind, but once I get started I can find myself changing direction – using a different colour, adding some stencilling.

Remember – it’s your book, I’m just there offering some advice! Please let me know how you end up using it.

Yours, Annie

*Annie Sloan's Chalk Paint® Workbook is published by CICO and available in selected book stores as well as through Annie Sloan Stockists around the world.

Karen Donnelly's Riverscape

For her third Painters in Residence project, Karen Donnelly used my paint, Chalk Paint®, to update this plain cabinet with an elegant riverscape depicting sailboats on her local river.

Karen is an artist who normally works in oils and watercolours. She'd known about my paint for some time through her sister (one of my Stockists in the USA), before experimenting with using my paint in a similar manner to other artists' paints – and the results are beautiful. I knew that Karen's paintings would look brilliant painted directly on to pieces of furniture, and asked her to do this, with my paint, as a Painter in Residence.

For this project, Karen took a modern piece of furniture with simple lines and shapes – a piece that lent itself well to being painted in this manner as it wouldn't detract from the landscape. Karen painted the whole cabinet thickly in Duck Egg Blue to create the background colour and texture, before painting the riverscape using a simple palette of Old White, Napoleonic Blue, Antibes Green, Olive and Arles. She then finished with a light coat of Clear Soft Wax all over.

Have you tried using Chalk Paint® to paint a landscape?

Yours, Annie

Follow this blog for exclusive pictures from Karen's residency and follow her on Facebook.

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

Agnieszka Krawczyk's Boho Cupboard

I love this second project from Painter in Residence Agnieszka Krawczyk. Agnieszka has used Florence and Graphite – two very strong, rich colours from the Chalk Paint® palette. They work beautifully with the golden wood of the cupboard. 

Agnieszka started the transformation by applying two coats of Florence (one of her favourite colours) to the outside of the cupboard. Distressing each layer using a metal scraper, sandpaper and a putty knife, she revealed areas of the original golden wood beneath. She painted the shelves and interior of the cupboard in Graphite (a soft black that can be darkened with my Dark Soft Wax) and then, once dry, gently sanded the paint back in certain areas. 

To finish the cupboard, Agnieszka applied Annie Sloan Clear Soft Wax all over and, while the wax was still soft, began working Dark Wax into the surface to highlight texture, darken the colours, and adds richness and depth. Agnieszka left the wax to dry without buffing to create a beautiful matt finish. 

I love how Agnieszka has used my Work Book to experiment with her colour combinations and plan this project. How have you used yours?

Yours, Annie

Follow this blog for exclusive pictures from Agnieszka's residency and follow her on Instagram, Facebook, and her website: www.beforeandafterblog.pl 

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

 Work Book Launch!! 

The party was held at my house

We asked Becky of Becky's Kitchen to cater. 

....then we got talking............................

Edible paint pots:

Classical: Olive tapenade with flatbread brushes (Graphite)

Rococo: White bean, roasted garlic and olive oil, swirled with preserved lemon pesto and Parmesan palmier brushes (Country Grey, Cream, Old White)   
Modern: Pea, mint and broad bean, with crisp cavalo nero brushes  (Antibes, Provence)

 Rococo Bibury smoked trout pate, sweet dill vinegared cucumber inside a chicory leaf

Oxford Blue cheese, local poached quince jewels inside a chicory leaf

Rococo Parmesan Palmiers 

Classical Rare roast beef, horseradish cream, Little Salad Co. watercress on a truffle toast 

Wild mushroom pate quenelles on Parmesan toasts 

Modern Rusty Pig smoked black pudding, local cauliflower puree & cranberry sauce

Lavender & Walnut macaroons 

           

Rustic Ham hock terrine, pickled local kohlrabi and parsley gremolata 

Chunky rosemary oatcakes, Aveton goats’ cheese, seasonal turmeric pickles

  

Quiet Riot & Asian Black Wakame Samosas,  filled with spiced local beetroot and coconut rice 

Makizushi with a variety of fillings

Cranberry and raspberry profiteroles, dipped with dark chocolate 

http://www.facebook.com/beckyskitchenoxford made and created all the delicious and inspiring palettes 

Sabel Gonzales of Studio Blancohttp://studioblanco.co.uk  

took the photos as we were setting up. 

  ANNIE SLOAN WORK BOOK

My Work Book is a sketch book with 3 pockets for your scraps and cuttings, with notes about colour and style and about my paint.  It's a sort of scrapbook/ sketchbook. It was inspired by Tawnya Norton who has a store called C'est Moi' in Tennessee and she sells my paint. She wrote to me one day;

Good Morning Annie, I was wondering if you ever thought of offering a journal. Something people could take notes in at the workshop and jot down ideas and maybe keep color recipes in that they have created even maybe add a place for photo's. I guess I see it has journal and portfolio combined.

I thought this was a great idea

So that's what I did and this is the result. 

Using drawings of a chair leg, I describe different styles of furniture - this one's Rococo. There's also Modern, Classical, Asian and Rustic. I have suggested which colours could be used historically.

There are three pockets for keeping your fabric swatches, cuttings and samples.

There is stuff about colour theory.
Lots of my stockists will be running workshops on colour too.

There's really nice paper that can take paint.  

This is what Amy Chalmers, another of my stockists, of Maison Decor in Boston did in some of her pages!

The Annie Sloan Work Book is only available from my stockists. 

Annie

PS.  When you get your book, start working with it then photograph it and post your pictures on your Pinterest board. Call your board 'Annie Sloan Work Book'.  I'm going to repin the ones I really love on to my boards on Pinterest.

PPS. Thank you very much Tawnya for a terrific idea!