Introducing Painter in Residence Agnieszka Krawczyk

“Hi, my name is Agnieszka and I am a true lover of vintage finds. I live in a small town near the historic city of Krakow, in Poland, where I have a workshop. I love giving a second life to old and broken furniture. I have always enjoyed being creative, so I turned my hobby and passion into a business. I sell transformed furniture, home decor, as well as hand crafted items that I create. My store is full of all the things I love.

And Annie's paint? 

I use various techniques to give my pieces of furniture a new character. I love the styles I call shabby chic, with a touch of boho, gypsy chic and vintage – and my furniture mainly follows these styles. I am constantly experimenting, so that each piece becomes a unique look.

I haven’t met Annie yet but that’ll change this year I know (and it will be great to meet her). I watch her tutorials, interviews, tips, and I feel she’s so charming and an inspiring person. She’s also an amazing career women, expert, powerful, professional what can I say, she’s just my guru!

I’m a self taught painter and it’s the ease of using Chalk Paint®, decorative paint by Annie Sloan, that’s helped me here: I can create my own unique colours, I can be spontaneous. The paints help me express my style. So it’s really easy to get started – anyone can do it!

What you’ll see from me

But a PIR? Well that’s going to be a challenge for sure. My projects will reflect my romantic side, so it will be subtly, slightly pastel, but with a hint of a strong accent, in the form of one of my favourite colors – turquoise with dark wax. So look out for that mix of shabby, boho, ethno, hippie and vintage!” 

Here’s a sneak peek of projects to come from Agnieszka:

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.

Janice Issitt's Summerhouse

Painter in Residence, Janice Issitt turned this previously underused summerhouse into a serene and sun-drenched yoga room using my paint, Chalk Paint®.

Janice painted the walls in Paloma – a contemporary neutral which has a pink/purple tone to it. This creates the perfect neutral backdrop to the bright pops of colour Janice introduced throughout the space.

She dyed the lace curtains with Chalk Paint®, using a mix of Emperor's Silk and Henrietta. She used this same colour mix to stencil the walls in a 'mandala' shape.

She painted a little cabinet in Antibes Green, picking out details with brass leaf. She used both my Clear and Dark Soft Wax to finish the cabinet – deepening the green and giving the piece an aged look. The use of my Soft Wax also protects the surface.

I just love the look of the lace curtains she dyed in Chalk Paint®. Have you ever tried dying fabric with my paint?

Yours, Annie

Follow this blog for exclusive pics from Janice's residency and follow her 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.

Janice Issitt's Vintage Floral Bedroom

After treating herself to this vibrant floral bed linen, Painter in Residence Janice Issitt decided to create a colour scheme to complement her new bedding.

The striking cupboard that sits next to her bed has been painted in a number of colours from the Chalk Paint® palette. The hot pink/red colour is a mix of Emperor's Silk and Henrietta, and was left over from another project that Janice worked on. She used Country Grey and Old White to provide a neutral background to frame the rest of the cupboard.

Janice cut her own stencils to give the cupboard character and a vintage feel. She painted the stencils in Aubusson Blue, Antibes Green, Florence and Greek Blue, picking out colours on her bedspread. She then finished the cupboard with Clear Soft Wax to protect the surface.

Janice also painted the mirror that sits on top of the cupboard in Paloma, a contemporary neutral with a purple tone. She used a combination of Clear and Dark Soft Wax to give it an aged appearance – the perfect complement to the vintage floral style of the room.  

What do you think of the finished look? Have you ever created a vintage floral colour scheme using Chalk Paint®?

Yours, Annie

Follow this blog for exclusive pics from Janice's residency and follow her 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.

Bonjour Burgundy!

 

In between everything else that’s been happening just now – Ireland tour, South Africa tour, #AnnieSloanLate, not mention the Painters in Residence which I’ve been showcasing on the blog too – I could do with a large red. Well, I’ve got one!

Please say “santé” to my colour, Burgundy. For those who haven’t seen it before, it’s a very rich red – think cranberries and plums – and conjures up classic Victorian interiors and boho boudoirs. But it can also be quite lively: with some help from Old White it morphs into a delicious, raspberry-like pink to add something of an ‘oomph’ to a room.

I’m getting madder

My inspirations include the pigment called Alizarin Crimson,
 a synthetic product made by a man called William Perkin. He was an English dye chemist and he derived it from coal tar. But he was also pipped at the post by one day in filing his patent (which went to two German chemists, Karls Grabe and Lieberman… would you believe?)

The Liebermans were searching for a synthetic way to create the strong red pigment with a bluish tone that comes naturally from the dye derived from Madder plant roots. Madder was found in Tutankhamen’s tomb amongst other places, and is a dye often seen in Asia and hence in Turkish carpets. So Burgundy is ideal for creating that exotic Turkish boudoir feel.

Another source of inspiration for Burgundy is the purplish blue-red that became available in the 1860. The English called it 'magenta', after the Battle of Magenta in 1859, a narrow French victory over Austria in the struggle for Italian independence – which is a fascinating fact in itself.

I was drawn to the name and colour because of its classical French Napoleonic connections and I love Burgundy as representing that refined French claret-colour which I suggest you could put on, say, a fabulous chest of drawers, maybe on its own, or with a little clear wax or even some dark wax. It adds a glorious gravitas and also looks great with gold leaf. As a regal colour Burgundy also pairs extremely well with Château Grey.

Bubblegum pink

As a bluey- not orangey-red, you might not associate Burgundy as a ‘fun’ colour, but wait till you try adding Old White to it: then it becomes right up-to-date bright bubblegum pink. Already a lot of people are adding white to it and making  these extraordinarily vivacious pinks, just like Lady Penelope and Thunderbirds.

A tripartite colour combination of Burgundy, Provence and Arles (all complementary on the colour wheel) makes an amazing mix for a room. For example you might like to try an Arles-painted wall combined with a Burgundy piece, say a chest of drawers, with some added Provence in the room in some other way, perhaps inside the drawers?

Yours, Annie

Janice Issitt's Boho Door

Janice found this dark wooden, carved, Victorian door in a charity shop and had to have it! She has taken the door and repurposed it using lots of bright colours from the Chalk Paint® palette to make a bold Bohemian statement.

Janice told me that "a lot of things went in to the alchemy" when it came to mixing the colours for this piece. She loves to experiment with colour mixing and stores any left-over mixes in pots, and will revisit these when beginning a project – adding other colours in to them to make the right tone for the next project.

For this piece Florence and Antibes have been mixed in different amounts to create different tones of green. Old White has been added to some parts and English Yellow to others. Napoleonic Blue and Emperor's Silk were mixed to make the deep purple panels, and a touch of Emperor's Silk has been added to Barcelona Orange to deepen it.

The panelled wall surrounding the door has been painted in Napoleonic Blue and stencils have been added in its complimentary colour, Barcelona Orange!

What do you think? Have you ever used Chalk Paint® to create a Bohemian look?

Yours, Annie

Follow this blog for exclusive pics from Janice's residency and follow her 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.

Room Recipes Blog Tour

Follow the Room Recipes blog tour!

Visit Lobster and Swan, Decor Art UK, Remodelista and Such Pretty Things 

on (or after) the dates above to read their reviews of my new book, Room Recipes for Style and Colour, co-written with my son Felix Sloan.

Each blog has a copy of the book to give-away too, so be sure to visit them

to be in with the chance of winning.

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.

Janice Issitt's Boho Bathroom

The first project from Painter in Residence Janice Issitt is this fabulous boho bathroom painted in my paint, Chalk Paint®. 

Janice started this project by creating a floral backdrop using my Decoupage Glue and Varnish and Pierre-Joseph Redouté's rose illustrations. Rather than working with decoupage on furniture, she decided to use it on a large scale, creating this eye-popping wallpaper effect.

Next, Janice wanted to match the colour on her enamel bathtub. She mixed together Antibes and Old White to create a similar hue and used this to paint the wooden chair and shelf, shown in the background.

To give this a boho edge, Janice works in bright contrasting colours. She created the pink on the chest and shelf using a mix made from Emperor's Silk, Henrietta and Old White.

The shelf also features flashes of Provence, Burgundy and Florence.

Thank you to Janice's local Stockists, Making the Best in Leighton Buzzard, UK for lending the vintage towels, bath products and red trug!

Have you used Chalk Paint® in your bathrooms?

Yours, Annie

Follow this blog for exclusive pics from Janice's residency and follow her 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.

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