Annie Sloan Week: Colour Mixing

Hey lovely,

I'm in a painting kind of mood 

and I hope these posts inspire you to get cracking 

on that piece you've been meaning to tackle.

And now onto Day 2 of Annie Sloan week.

Colour-Mixing.

I'll be honest.

While I was completely sold on the idea of the Annie Sloan paints 

{I was hooked as soon as I realised no stripping was involved.

Stripping is not my strong point, you understand}, 

when I first saw the Annie Sloan paint chart, 

I wasn't convinced these were the paints for me.

But my moment of true conversion came when Annie showed me a book she'd put together of each paint colour diluted with Old White.

This purposefully takes her range to a huuuuuuuuuuge number of colours. These paints are *designed* for mixing - they mix so easily.

Old White is a gorgeous greyed white. 

Here's a photo of a can of Old White that needs a good shake to mix it. 

See how much grey there is in there floating on the surface? 

That gives the colour a slightly dirtied feel.

Which makes it the perfect colour for knocking 

back some of these brighter shades for 

the perfect 

Modern Country look.

{For those of you who prefer cleaner colours, 

some new whites will be introduced to the range very shortly, 

including one called 'Pure', 

which is a bright, fresh white.}

Look at these photos. 

The colour on the top left of each page is the original colour, 

and then each lighter shade has been mixed with one extra part of Old White. 

So the second swatch is mixed with one part Old White, 

then two parts, then three...

Looking at these totally opened my eyes to 

the idea of mixing my perfect shades.

{And I can't begin to explain the satisfaction of creating my own, unique colours.}

The colour that immediately grabbed my imagination was 

Chateau Grey. 

At first glance, I NEVER would have picked it out 

but mix it with Old White and it's mine, baby!!

Those gentle grey-greens with a hint of blue 

have my name written all over them.

L.O.V.E. T.H.E.M.

Several of you asked for a list of stockists.

Here's a link to European stockists of Annie Sloan's Chalk paints. 

And here's one to stockists in North America.

I hope that helps, peeps.

Now then, who's curious about what I actually learned 

on my course with Annie Sloan herself?

That's what I'll be sharing on Thursday.