More Colour Fun

Our latest window display !

I have been remiss in my posts, big apologies for that.  Art is to come around soon enough, but all energy has gone into getting our business venture off the ground and into flight.  Check out our website www.brocante-in-the-barossa.com to see more about what we are working on.  There is a new blog there for the business (Blog link in menu).  Also Workshop & Events info on menu bar.  The home page is now getting updated regularly.  Construction being completed in coming weeks--and most of that currently is on the Products pages, as we prepare for launching the online shop.

Bison ceramics,
made and designed in Australia

So what have I been up to ?  Well, busy painting with Chalk Paint decorative paint by Annie Sloan.  And helping people learn to use the paint, the soft wax.  We also began carrying Royal Design Studio stencils  www.royaldesignstudio.com and recently added Bison home ceramics to what we have in the shop www.bisonhome.com.   Bison glaze colours are gorgeous (and many match the Chalk Paint colours).

Antoinette Damask stencil pattern,
by Royal Design Studio.
in Coco Chalk Paint.

Annie Sloan Chalk Paint colour chart

I have worked on a lot of colour mixing.  First, hand painted colour charts.  Actually, Ian is the designer of the process by which we build them...which is time-consuming.  The swatches are hand painted onto labels and then he lifts them on and places each onto the  printed colour chart card using a precision cut template (that he made), so they are aligned perfectly straight and exactly in place above the colour names.  And of course, the charts are beautiful.



I work on colour mixes and colour recipes for them.  Sometimes on swatches, and sometimes for customers.  Other times just what I feel like painting up.  Or experimenting.  I make up colour recipes and mixing onto 300 gsm watercolour papers, which I cut into strips with a small paper cutter.  I have made some nice ones.  If the colour is nice and as a mixed colour hasn't already been dubbed by someone else, I may give it my own name.  Like Driftwood Grey, made up of French Linen and Paris Grey.  Now I need to name this mix of Coco and Graphite (just above).

Other colour mixes I do on the surface I am painting.  This is a lot of fun, and I can be creative and also let the piece evolve.  The latest one I have done this way is a timber framed clock and I call its paintwork Heather Mists.   Mauve tones inspired by some mauve coloured tarnish patina on the gold tone frame.  Its paintwork is done layers of different purple and mauve colours, first Emile.  Then Paloma.  And into Paloma, I pushed in a bit of French Linen for soft subtlety.  And for a bit of elegant pizzazz, I used Henrietta on it too, before the Paloma paint layer was dry.  Henrietta sits the fence between mid tone purple and pink.  I thought it was too bright and sweet, but I am liking it when it is mixed in with friends :)  The clock frame got a clear wax, some distressing to expose the darker purple Emile layer and then a bit of dark wax to finish it.

More colour work to come.  and will work better on blog posts too !!

Antique Easter Greeting

Antique Easter card, postmark dated 1911 

I have been collecting old post cards for a few years now, mostly choosing ones that have old postmarks and cute visuals or messages.  This is one of my favourites and it is more than vintage, it's a bonafide antique, being over 100 years old ! A sweet Easter card, with pretty spring landscape, an Easter Lily and such a cute Easter chick.  I love the typography on this card too, a beautiful lettering for the message.

Wishing all a happy peaceful Easter.  Nearly over here in Australia, just starting in USA.  Europe half way through !

The Perfect Pink

Dear All, I meant it when I said I would do more posting...and could not resist adding this little post about colour mixing.  You can see why I find selling decorative paint to be creative--I love colour mixing and I love working with colour (and pattern, texture, etc).

Good friend and artist Jacqueline Coates (try www.jacquelinecoates.com for more info on Jacqueline's work)  is seeking the perfect vivid and deep pink colour for her Salon Rouge Gallery decor  (see www.salonrougegallery.com for more detail).  If we can get it right, she may paint some of the gallery in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint decorative paint, and source the paint from our boutique, Brocante in the Barossa.  She called in yesterday to pick up flowers at neighbouring Viva The Flower Store boutique (see www.vivaflowerstore.com for info) and looked at some of the colour charts I had.  None was EXACTLY right, yet.  But I agreed to work on mixing some colours today and paint up some swatches for her consideration this week.

Colour Mixing dabs, marks, and notes.  Entered
into my copy of the Annie Sloan Work Book

Here is what I came up with.  Colours I mixed are Emperor's Silk, a brilliant bright red.  Greek Blue, a clear blue, a bit on the cooler side (I am sure it has
some magenta in it, just a teeny bit).  And Pure White, for a clear bright neutral white that has no yellow, blue, pink or grey in it.

I needed to knock back the Emperor's Silk a bit, to bring things closer to the magenta side of the equation, instead of scarlet.  So I added a bit of Greek Blue.  It changed the character of Emperor's Silk only slightly, but that is because Emperor's Silk is very strong, and is not a shy character at all !  A bit of Pure White made things look more pink, but the colour was not deep and vivid as I thought Jacqueline is seeking.  So more Emperor's Silk and more Greek Blue.  Much better.  Adding more Greek Blue pulled things towards (blue) violet.  More Emperor's Silk pulled it back to magenta.  And adding more Pure White tinted it carnation pink.

I think it is possible the two dabs at the bottom are what she is after. I think the one on the left is about right, but it could be the one to its right, or a mix of those together.  We shall see !

This was the fun bit of the afternoon !