Lino Rug #2--Indian Design

One of the most fun things for me to do is to stencil things. I think that the "pounding" motion of stenciling must be therapeutic. Plus something pretty always comes of it---well most of the time anyway. This is a 22x34 inch linoleum (vinyl) scrap for about $5 painted with some Annie Sloan Old White Chalk paint, some leftover yellow and my new Indian design stencils. It came is 5 stencils to a pack and was pretty tricky to get everything lined up. The sample on the outside of the stencil package showed it painted in black and white and it was really stunning. Maybe I will try that next time. This one will go in the guest bath since it matches the paint and wall paper. 

  I use Gripcoat Ultra on the back and they never slide and don't harm any floors. I had to so some digging to find that out.  And also I use Annie Sloan Lacquer on the painted side.

Had fun making this one.

At the Annie Sloan Workshop here in Jacksonville, they warned that this paint was addictive. And-- yes it is-- that is if you have a desire to paint furniture. If you don't then all this excitement will just seem crazy.

 

I bought these two chairs at my antique store around the corner and thought they had a good shape but of course the fabric was dirty and yuck.  So I decided to just go for it.  The one on the right is painted with also Duck Egg Blue. The fabric painted just fine and so far doesn't seem to crack when I sit on it. Actually it's pretty soft.

So I decided to put dots on the fabric in Graphite color.  My dots got a little wonky but it's shabby chic so it's all good. After all if I don't like it I can just paint over it. No worries. The other color I bought was French Linen and it's a fabulous color too. Maybe I will do the other chair in that. 

I will put these in my new studio.

Or I will paint over them and try something different!

Oh my goodness--Annie Sloan Chalk Paints!

I went to an Annie Sloan Chalk Paint workshop yesterday to learn how to use this fabulous paint for furniture. I have always wanted to paint furniture but never wanted to do any prep work beforehand. Well, this is the paint that will do that. No prep whatsoever. We painted these sample boards with the easy techniques.  The paint colors are yummy (I bought way too many!) but I am going to try this and see what happens. So maybe I will switch from painting canvases to painting chairs and tables!  Maybe I will even paint some pears and poppies on them too!