What a wonderful privilege to have been invited to spend a morning with Ms Annie Sloan! We could hardly believe our luck and sat down with a small select group to listen to this remarkable creative tell the story of her life and her new book.
We were greeted at the door outside Catharina’s Restaurant at Steenberg Estate with a very unassuming “Hi, I’m Annie!” at which point I wanted to hug her and proceeded to lose speech. I garbled something about my name being unpronounceable to non-South Africans and told her to call me anything she wants. After Margaux pulled me away from imminent self-embarrassment into the small and intimate meeting room, we had a few minutes for coffee before the event started.
Annie Sloan hardly needs any introduction and since I discovered this amazing range of paint last year I have been a devout Chalk Paint® fan. But as it turns out, the paint that sticks to anything has a fascinating history that spans more than 20 years. This paint was developed with love and honesty and that’s what makes it such a beautiful product.
Each colour was chosen to complement the very personal palette and their names are reminiscent of the influences that inspired them: Antoinette for the soft pinks that adorn the palaces in France; English Yellow from the chinoiserie-inspired Georgian interiors and the new and powerful Napoleonic Blue from ultramarine and cobalt blue pigment.
Says Annie: “regular people are much more senstive to colour than artists”. Being from a fine arts background she understands colour more than most but wants to encourage people to create their own colours using her paints. The palette gives a great base to work from, but the fun is in the experimentation. “We can help people to be artists,” she says – “my paints are designed to be mixed”.
The complimentary waxes can be used to enhance the decorative finishes on furniture and to protect the paint surface. All the stockists offer decorative technique workshops that will go into these finishes in detail. For more information, visit the workshops and events page on Annie Sloan South Africa.
Her latest book, Recipes for Style and Colour is the 24th publication in her very successful career as a creative and entrepreneur. With 300 inspirational photographs, this 192-page hardback book examines 9 key interior design styles, ranging from Traditional Swedish to Warehouse. Every page is filled with practical tips and inspiration to help you develop your own style and bring it into your home. Shop your chalk paint online here!
Watching Annie passionately discuss her book and work was inspiring and seeing her working with the colours, a treat. We look forward to many more projects with this wonderful woman and her paint and hope to inspire you to find the artist within.
Happy Painting!
What a privilege the two of you had to join Mrs Sloan herself in Cape town ! Lucky girls !