Dream Doer Annie Sloan

Annie Sloan is living her dreams indeed. I will interview Annie this weekend for Artistically Speaking Talk Show on Sunday 9/19/2010.

Annie and I have much in common. We both started painting murals in homes in the 1970s while raising children. We also taught decorative painting, gilding and decoupage at night. And we both have a love and respect for all things French.

Annie trained as a painter and worked for many years decorating in London and Oxford. Her skills as a painter led her to begin teaching and for many years led a course in Decorative Painting at the Inchbald School of Design. In 1987 she wrote ‘The Complete Book of Decorative Paint Techniques’ which is how I came to find her.

One of my favorite of her books is  the highly successful ‘How to Create the French Look’ published in April 2008. Her newest book called ‘Paint Transformations’ was published in April 2010 and I wrote the cover notes. We both have come a long way since painting walls in the 70s.

She developed her now famous Chalk Paint with her factory in Belgium to answer the need she had for a paint which would have many uses from acting like limewash to looking like old painted furniture and that had a good range of color that could be extended by the user. This paint is very easy to work with and allows people to be creative as one doesn’t get involved with the technicalities of preparation and it also allows you to change your mind without hassle.

Annie’s Chalk Paints are yummy!! You can buy them in the US at several loactions. Visit JolieDesign dot com to find a stockist near you. Chalk Paint is a very special paint for very many reasons:

1. It’s the BEST paint for painting furniture by a long way
2. You can use the paint by diluting it with water to make a wash to show the wood grain
3. You can use it as an impasto ( thickly) – leave the lid off to thicken
4. You can use it on any surface, indoors and out ( the outside of our shop was painted in it- perfect!)
5. No need to prime or prepare
6. The colors are mixed intelligently and the web site shows how you can adapt your colours for your use
7. It’s a girls’ paint, but boys can use it too.
8. It’s flexible so you can be creative and change you mind
9. The paint can be washed off your brush even when you find your brush weeks later. [I never do that of course.]
10. It allows your walls to breathe so it is perfect for cottage walls
11. Extremely low VOCs so it is good for the environment
12. It doesn’t form a skin on it when you leave the lid off – just add some water if it’s too thick
13. Very little black is used in their manufacture so the colors are mixed with thought
14. You can paint it on walls for a soft matte effect or wax it for a polished plaster effect