Agnieszka Krawczyk's Blue Sea Trunk

For Agnieszka Krawczyk's fourth Painters in Residence project she used my paint, Chalk Paint®, and her signature layering technique on this old wooden sea trunk.

Agnieszka used one of my Pure Bristle brushes to paint thick, textured layers of Provence, Duck Egg Blue, Greek Blue, Old White and Pure on the outside of the chest. She applied some of the colours directly from the tin, and mixed others together to create lighter shades. Then she used a scraper, putty knife and sandpaper to chip and scrape away at the painted surface. Agnieska always distresses her paint work manually, and never uses an electric sander – this gives her a lot more control and creates a less uniform finish.

Agnieszka painted the inside of the chest in Provence, and then finished the piece by applying my Clear Soft Wax to protect the finish.

What do you think? Have you ever used my paint to update a wooden trunk like this?

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.

#AnnieSloanLate 2

On Friday 19th June, Annie Sloan Stockists across the world opened their shops after hours and hosted special events to raise money for charity, as part of the global event #AnnieSloanLate! 

#AnnieSloanLate was a night (and in some cases a day) to celebrate and support local businesses. Communities worked together and got together to run demos, hold markets, auction off furniture, host tea parties, serve food, drink Pimms, eat cake and raise money for charity.

In the UK many Stockists raised money for the NSPCC – a brilliant charity who are working to stop cruelty to children. The Ministry of Upholstery, one of my Stockists in Manchester, UK, raised over £1200 for the NSPCC which will go a very long way! My Stockists across other parts of the world supported their own chosen charities, that sat close to their hearts. 

I'd like to say a huge thank you to everyone who took part in the second #AnnieSloanLate event, especially the Stockists who worked so hard to host such fantastic events. Last year we raised a whopping £10,000 for the NSPCC, let's hope we've reached that target again!

Search the hashtag #AnnieSloanLate on Facebook, Instagram and Twitter to see photographs from the events. 

Annie Sloan Wall Paint & Modern Art Oxford

I am a big fan of Modern Art Oxford  (known for short as MAO). It’s a fantastic space and showcase for contemporary art—and it’s free!

Show and tell

Already this year I’ve been bowled over by Love is Enough* in which artist-curator Jeremy Deller interweaves the life stories, art, and printmaking of American pop art icon Andy Warhol with British Arts & Crafts mover and shaker William Morris (below). 

  

I went in thinking ‘it’s ridiculous you can’t compare these two artists’, but I came out inspired by the revealing relationships and strange connections of these two prolific and experimental visionaries. I’ve always thought the role of art is to make to you see life in another way and this is what this exhibition—and MAO achieves—time and again.

And yours truly has also been featured here as an artist (back in 1971), as part of an exhibition where I showed a piece of conceptual art after I left university. I can just about recall my piece featuring plastic pigeons placed all around the exhibition space—can’t remember what it was about though I remember feeling very pleased to be involved with such a cutting-edge establishment that champions innovative and ambitious projects!

The perfect paint backdrop

So imagine my delight as I now return full circle to have my paints featured as part of the fabric of this wonderful art gallery. Yes, MAO have chosen my soon-to-be-launched Annie Sloan Wall Paint to grace its interior spaces.

They’ve gone initially for Paris Grey and Graphite, and will be working with other colours for future exhibitions. This is just the beginning and I am thrilled that MAO has chosen to use my paint because it’s local (I am passionate about supporting local businesses), I have had a long association with the place, and it is an exceptional art gallery. As an artist, I can’t recommend it highly enough if you are visiting our unique city.

Wall to Wall Paint

And my new Wall Paint? Well, it’s incredibly strong: it's durable, washable and scrubbable. I designed it to take the hurly burly of home life—in what modern parlance would call 'high traffic areas' (so the museum is a perfect medium!). It’s ideal for kitchen walls, bathrooms, halls and stairways where my decorative paint, Chalk Paint®, perhaps might not hold up as well with kids knocking things around and where you have to re-clean surfaces time and again because of the wear and tear of family life. 

Like Chalk Paint®, it is a water-based paint and it covers really well. I have made sure my new Wall Paint is rich in quality pigments so you get extensive coverage—as well as a lush depth of colour—with every brushstroke. It’s quick-drying too and has a soft matt finish with a hint of sheen. No prep, no splatter, no fuss.

My new paint is tailor-made for my free and expressive approach to painting: you can brush it on as easily as roll it on to achieve a high-quality finish on walls and ceilings. And now, with MAO’s endorsement, I really feel I’m coming back full circle.

Yours, Annie

* The show is now at Birmingham Museum & Art Gallery till 6 September.
** My Wall Paint will be available this summer through Annie Sloan Stockists in Europe.

Abigail and Ryan Bell's Painted Ceramic Platters

After reading my book Colour Recipes for Painted Furniture and More, Abigail and Ryan (of Abigail*Ryan) were inspired by my technique to create a limed-oak look, using Chalk Paint® to create 'transparent colour'.

The couple bought white air-drying clay and began experimenting – rolling the clay out with a rolling
pin and then rolling their signature Irish Linen into the clay, creating texture from the weave of the fabric. Some of the platters were left to dry on plates with slightly curved surfaces and others were roughly cut out in platter shapes with craft knives. Once the clay had dried, they mixed a teaspoon of Chalk Paint® with roughly 3 teaspoons of my Clear Soft Wax to create coloured waxes in Old Violet, Antoinette and Emperor's Silk, which were all applied – rubbed, scrubbed and painted – on to the ceramics to highlight the texture that had been imprinted by the Linen. A few days later, they buffed the surfaces to create a sheen.

Reloved Magazine have featured this project with a step-by-step guide in their new issue, out this week!

Have you ever created a coloured wax using my paint, Chalk Paint®?

Yours, Annie

Follow this blog for exclusive pictures from Abigail and Ryan's residency and follow them on Instagram, Facebook, and her website: www.abigailryan.com

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

Karen Donnelly's Chalk Paint® Farmscape

A sketch from Karen's Work Book

For Karen Donnelly's second project as Painter in Residence, she up cycled this small chest of drawers by painting a beautiful countryside landscape on to a small chest of drawers, using my paint Chalk Paint®.

You may know that I refer to my paint palette as an artist's palette – with all the colours you need to create your perfect hue. Each colour contains little or no black, this means you can mix colours together and maintain a pure crisp hue – without it becoming murky or dirty.

This project from Karen is a fantastic example of how to use the Chalk Paint® range as an artist's palette. Karen only needed 5 of my colours plus my Pure white to paint this chest of drawers and create the luscious landscape that is full of depth on the front. The colours she chose were Burgundy, English Yellow, Antibes Green, Arles and Graphite.

To finish the piece and protect the surface, Karen used my Clear Soft Wax applied with my wax brush and wiped down lightly with a lint-free cloth.

Have you explored using my colours in a similar way?

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 Old Violet Side Table

I fell in love with Agnieszka's work after seeing it online – her technique and recognisable style are inspiring. I admire the way she experiments with my paint, Chalk Paint®, and explores the art of decorative painting. 

For her third Painters in Residence project Agnieszka applied Chalk Paint® decorative paint in a whole range of colours – Old Violet, Louis Blue, Henrietta, Emile, Paloma, Duck Egg Blue, French Linen, Original and Old White. She applied the paint thickly to create texture. Along the way she used scrapers, sand paper, a putty knife and woodworking tools to scrape, sand and chip away at the layers of paint – creating beautiful character and revealing areas of colour. This technique results in a piece that looks like naturally worn paint work – aged and distressed over time. 

Agnieszka finished the piece in my Soft Clear Wax – this protects the surface and adds a little depth to the colour.

Have you been inspired by Agnieszka's work to create your own heavily distressed piece?

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.