Painting on Sheet Music: Artist Before Furniture

If you look at my blog title, under Queen of Chairs, the first word I have listed is Artist.  That is there for a reason. I love to paint, I get in a zone, like the world around me is silent, and the only thing I can hear are the ideas in my head.

I paint a lot of furniture, and it is fun being creative on a larger scale, but at the same time it can be exhausting.  I decided that I was going to spend an hour a couple times a week painting pictures.  For me it releases stress, it gives me confidence, knowing that I have an ability to create something that not everyone can do, it inspires me to push my creativity to new heights.

So, I decided to share some of my paintings that I have done in my hour time slot over the past couple of weeks.

French Blue Painted Dresser; Maison Blanche LaCraie Paint

What furniture painters do not have a love affair with chalk paint.  Part of what we do is jump all over any new products, it's so much fun to explore and nothing is created equally.  So, a while back I received, a couple of paint samples from Maison Blanche Paint Company, This is how my package arrived.

Really pretty, I was so excited, I had no idea what the color samples were (what girl does not love a surprise) there was even a hand written note.  Presentation and details.....A++ and in my opinion, the details do matter.  I opened my pretty little boxes,

At this point, I grabbed a brush and started painting.  Now the samples pots were not enough to paint anything large, but just enough to have me wanting more.  I painted a picture frame with the Antique Blue and a little vanity seat with the Hurricane. Both are gorgeous colors.

A couple months went by, you know the kind of months filled with blizzards and holidays, and I received a custom order and the client wanted one of the Maison Blanche colors in Wrought Iron, which is basically black, so, I ordered the Wrought Iron, French Blue and some wax in light brown. 

Now, I would only be human if I compared it to Annie Sloan Chalk Paint and ASCP wax. In my opinion it is very different, but does all the same things,  The MBPC is thicker, creamer and has a different odor, not bad just different   The paint is less chalky, and it levels, layers and distresses nicely. It also has really good coverage (example with the Wrought Iron, I painted two modern servers two coats, my iron bed and a floorcloth) and I still have 1/4 of the quart left.  I feel like the finished project has more of a sheen almost a thicker shell of paint, if that makes any sense.  Basically, if you were going to paint a piece without distressing, and wanted to use a chalk based paint, LaCraie would win my vote. And yes, you can mix LaCraie with ASCP, why not, it worked fine for me.

My bed with Wrought Iron (FYI my walls are painted in Milk paint, future post)

Now let's talk about the wax, I am not going to lie, I highly dislike waxing, but I will say the MBPC wax made me like it just a little bit more.  It has a really nice fluid consistency  you can brush it on with a crappy chip brush, wait 15 minutes then buff it off and you are left with a nice sheen.

Here is the French Blue painted dresser I recently completed,

And the detail

Like I said at the beginning of the post, not all paint is created equally, but overall I really love the LaCraie, great paint and great customer service, the only negative for some people is the price point at $38.95 per quart, but for me it's well worth it considering the time it's saves me from the prep work.  A couple of things that would be nice, are gallons of this stuff, larger wax containers and a fan deck with over 250 colors, that would be nice, and then I could bath myself in it, without any prep work.

If you are curious about trying the Maison Blanche LaCraie paint and waxes they have a list of retailers on there website Maison Blanche Paint - Retailers

I do love my ASCP and am patiently waiting for the new colors.

**Disclaimer the sample pots were sent to me by Maison Blanche Paint company, simply from generosity and to get there paint in the hands of people like me. I did purchase the quarts and the wax on my own, and all opinions are mine and are 100% honest, great paint deserves a great review.

Blue and White Painted Furniture & When to Stop

As I sit here looking through my photos, I realized the amount of white and blue furniture I had painted.  Over the past couple of months there has been a huge request for white and blue, between custom orders and customers requesting it at the store, nothing but white and blue.

Around where I live most people only paint furniture in colors that sell well, white and black.  I refuse to limit my paint cabinet to only two colors.  Normally I don't even like to recreate something I have already done.  At what point do you stop yourself and say.....the last ten dressers I painted where black, maybe it's time to stop.

I think the bristles on my paint brush are permanently dyed blue now.

Both the dresser and small china cabinet are painted in Annie Sloan Chalk Paint Old White and Napoleonic Blue, finished with clear wax and I did use dark wax on the inside of the small china cabinet to darker the color a bit.   I really dislike waxing the inside of china cabinets, so I normally mix mineral spirits in with the wax so I can apply it and then just wipe it off.  I let it sit for an hour come back and give it a quick buff.

I left the grill work the natural wood finish, I like it.

This next blue and white painted china cabinet was a beast.  I really think I could write an entire blog post on how heavy this thing was.  I am just glad it's over.

I painted this one with Annie Sloan Chalk Paint in Pure White and Napoleonic Blue on the inside, clear wax both inside and out.

The last ten things I painted were not blue and white, I promise.

Anyways, I am working on my master bedroom, and I just finished painting the walls, with Milk Paint, yep Milk paint and I am in love.......more to come.