Yummy Canvases

 I had a wonderful time making gilded canvas pictures as Christmas presents. I am really looking forward to doing some more some time soon

Mini Canvas...not brave enough to do the big one straight off

Once I got brave I made the one that was for my brother - James (Very Talented Brother) had mentioned he and (also talented and gorgeous) wife Harriet needed artwork for their newly painted walls. Not normally my metier but once I got started I really got into it. I bought pre-stretched canvases and gilded with metal leaf and then patinated the surface. Here was the first biggy

Here are 2 close ups .....I do LOVE the patinas

Having decided to do one for brother Jim, I also got it in my head that my brother in law John should have one too but his would be copper with a hint of green coming through

It was all a bit mad chemist in the studio while I did this, getting the best patination fluid from household products ....of course I left it all too late to order proper ones. Chemical drain clearer came out tops and I just have one tip.....wear gloves!!!!

Shopping

While all the world and their wives have been shopping for Christmas I have been doing a different sort of shopping, I have been working on our on-line shop. Not the lead up to Christmas I had anticipated but with an incredibly busy New Year coming up I thought I had better get it done - a now or never situation.
You can now buy Annie Sloan Chalk Paint, and Classes direct from here on the blog. Look to your right and scroll down to "SHOP here" click on a category and the shop will open up in a separate window in front of you.

I am feeling really clever because not only can you buy from here you can also buy from our Facebook Page 
 

and if you haven't liked the page yet.....please do!

 
Finally I have the new classes scheduled and listed. Thanks to a very talented finisher Pat Strong from Texas who I have never met, but have corresponded with for YEARS, we have a range of classes known as Every Second Thursday. She opens her studio for classes and opens studio nights every second Thursday and we loved the concept so...that is what we are doing.
Every second Thursday in the evening, we will either have an open studio or a short class in a specialist subject. Bookings can be made in advance, or it can be made on the night on a first come first served basis. The studio will always be open from 6pm until 9pm on these evenings. Classes are £30 and Open Studios are where we open our studio to you for your own use. Want to try any of the Annie Sloan Chalk Paints? Want to gild some detail with metal leaf? Want to use one of our stencils? For 3 hours the studio is open to you and you can work with any of the products normally used in the Annie Sloan Furniture Painting Class; all our class brushes and tools are available to you and any reasonable amount of other products in the paint store plus coffee and tea for a grand fee of £15.

The first short class will be to gild a 50cm square panel and apply a freehand design to it. No worry if you can't hand paint...we can stencil instead,  enabling you to produce something like this funky piece

Very Rock Chick!

I hope you will check it all out. I still have tweaks to do...fonts, font sizes etc. so don't be too harsh. I am so thrilled to be able to update things now that I have had a lesson from our wonderful website designer Evie Milo and there is so much still to update - I have to treat it as a work in progress.