Maison et Objet Paris

Last week I was in Paris for Maison et Objet 2016.  It is *the* big international trade show for interior design, with exhibitors – and visitors – from all over the world.  It’s so exciting, I go once a year to see for myself all the new trends.  Some of the stands are just enormous – I worked out that one was easily twice the size of my house! Often it’s where I’ll find new things for my shop here in Oxford, but this year I had my own stand there, and had a wonderful time meeting with stockists and potential new stockists from across the globe – Hungary to Japan!   (Images below- left: Shiro and Kimie Ito, my distributors in Japan, with Monika Gawinecka - my distributor in Poland. Middle: the Chalk Paint colour wheel. Right: My Spanish distributor, Maria, doing a short demo on the stand.)

I made time to take in what else was going on – I’m so frustrated but, because it is strictly trade only, I’m not allowed to share any of the pictures I took of the other stands with you.  However, I just had to sketch out some of the amazing ways in which people are using colour.  I was incredibly inspired, and – I hope! – you will be, too.

For the past few years, the big story has been white with grey.  I love this pared down look, but somehow it just doesn’t excite me in the way that bold use of colour does, so I’m thrilled to say that this year colour is big and strong!  There were some really powerful statements: red walls, red furniture, strong splashes of bright green and yellows…yellow everywhere!  And, importantly, this wasn’t just in reference to one particular style (e.g. mid-century Modern) but across the range.  Palatial grandeur, warehouse, bohemian (of course!) all infused with the colours I know so well from the Chalk Paint® palette (Emperor’s Silk, Burgundy, Antibes Green, Greek Blue, English Yellow to name but a few).  Barcelona Orange and English Yellow worked particularly well in warehouse settings, especially when paired with Paris Grey, French Linen, Versailles…

I’ve been struggling to come up with a way of describing the colours used, and can only come up with ‘strong florals’ – these aren’t pastels, but instead the strong red of tulips, vivid yellow like daffodils, marigold orange and beautiful cornflower blues.  And in combinations which were striking and somehow exotic.  Here’s a sketch based on a stand I saw which put together Graphite with Emperor's Silk, Antibes Green, Barcelona Orange and English Yellow.

  

Despite this and although colours were generally more dramatic, they were also used to create some more gentle looks.  The ubiquity of white and grey has been refreshed by using colour to replace white - it is now grey with orange, or blues, or yellow.  I saw a fabulous room set made up of soft greys – so relaxing – but with one vibrant orange chair – I love it!! For this look I've used Paris Grey and Barcelona Orange from the Chalk Paint® palette. (See image above.) 

I love seeing pictures of your bold colour statement pieces, keep sharing them with me using #AnnieSloan on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter! Use @anniesloanhome to tag me too!

Yours, Annie

Colour of the year?

Pantone recently announced that ‘Marsala’ was its ‘Colour of the Year’ – an interesting gambit on many levels, I thought. And certainly it’s caused quite a media stir and has been commented upon up by several Annie Sloan Stockists, too.

The graphic designer’s friend

What’s it all about? Back in my college days studying Art, I never really came into contact with Pantone colours – it was much more a graphic design thingy and designers talked about it all the time as it was a way of specifying and matching colour. It was explained to me by a graphic designer as a means to clarify conversations such as “I would like it in red”, “What shade of red?”, “Somewhere between tomato and pillar box”. Pantone gets its precisely. Hence it’s not just Marsala but Marsala 18-1438.

Marsala

Pantone say it's ‘a naturally robust and earthy wine red’ and I quite like it personally. In fact, Marsala reminds me of a blend of three of my colours: Burgundy and Primer Red, with a dash of Old White Chalk Paint®.

Kicking off the colour conversation

And ‘Colour of the Year’? Pantone have been promoting a centrefold colour since 2000, I believe, and I think it’s a really interesting idea. If it raises the profile of colour in our lives that can only be a good thing. It makes people focus on colour and that’s exciting – we all need it. 

Having said that, I don’t think we should take it too seriously. It’s for colour forecasters – especially in fashion (clothes and handbags), beauty (we’ll see it in lipsticks) and it kicks off a conversation in interiors, furnishings, design, and graphics, which is all good stuff. It’s all about the zeitgeist and the ‘Colour of the Year’ reflects that – perhaps Marsala is about the need to be more ‘grounded’ in what to many seems a time of freefall?

One colour fits all?

I have to say that the idea of trying to make one colour the colour for the whole world in all these areas seems a wee bit ambitious, and anyway your shop or style simply might not be able to include this or any ‘Colour of the Year’. What happens if you live by the sea and you’ve chosen lots of greys? I say, don’t feel obliged to up paintbrushes and start spreading the Marsala.

Yours, Annie

Complementary Colours

A complementary is the opposite colour - 

it can mean they fight each other or they get along really well - just like people really!

Purple and yellow are opposite each other on the colour wheel 

With a complemetary one colour is a primary colour and the other is a secondary. 

In this case the primary is Cream - it's a yellow but with lots of white in it. 

The secondary is the Old Violet which is made roughly from two primaries - blue and red. 

Mixing yellow and purple together makes Paloma - a grey made from two complementaries. 

I've made some great boards I have painted with colour swatches I want to share with you! 

Louis Blue & a pop of it's complementary Orange on the cups

I love talking about colour and I think  I can tell you some things that will make painting easier and more fun! 

This is the sort of thing I will be explaining and enlarging on at the Workshops I will be doing all one the USA starting on March 16th in

Dallas 

then 

San Francisco, 

then 

Denver, 

then 

Chicago 

moving to 

Nashville, 

to

  Atlanta, 

then 

Leesburg (near Washington) 

and finally finishing in

Boston 

on April 2nd! 

Get a ticket from this link below

http://www.anniesloanunfolded.com/event/

I don't want to hear you didn't know it was happening! !

Welcome!

Welcome to Paint & Colour, a blog about my favourite subjects.

From my childhood in Sydney, Australia, there was colour. My Scottish father, probably from a his background of misty greys , soft hues and heather, surrounded himself with strong bright colours in the choice of paintings and fabrics in the home so my family home was filled with colour. 














My Fijian mother's domain was the garden and her green fingers meant there was beautiful coloured flowers, fruit and vegetables in abundance.

The house was filled with prints, with Gauguin one of the painters of choice. His understanding of colour and his tonal sense has always been with me.