This type of stenciling is the most fun to do, as it allows you lots of freedom. There is basically no measuring and you can place the stencils anywhere you wish. However, although it may look as though I simply “went for it,” there are, in fact, some guidelines and imposed restrictions to follow that will help make your random stenciling work really well.
The key thing is to restrict the colors you work with. I mainly worked with blues but, most importantly, these were three blues of different tones. I have the mid-tone-colored blue of Giverny for the background and deep-colored Napoleonic Blue and pale Louis Blue for the stenciling. To go with these, I chose Barcelona Orange, which is the complementary color to blue. Some of the stencil colors are mixed, which makes it look as if there are more colors than there really are. By working on a mid-tone background color, you can go darker and lighter with the stenciling, thus giving your work depth immediately. In contrast, the small amount of very warm orange, tempered a little with Louis Blue, gives the design some lift.
I chose four of my Annie Sloan stencils, which varied in size and type. These stencils included one side of the large but quite detailed and trailing Antheia, which were all done in the blues. The rest of the stencils were flowers: a bold spot (using the middle section of Petrushka) with the similar stems of Arctic Poppy and the tiny, daisy-like flowers of Flower String. Try to keep some space between the stencils, with nothing else on the wall, to give it lightness; otherwise the wall will look too dense and heavy.
YOU WILL NEED
• Chalk Paint® in Giverny, Napoleonic Blue, Louis Blue, and Barcelona Orange
• Annie Sloan MixMat™
• Large stencil roller
• Annie Sloan stencils: Antheia, Petrushka, Arctic Poppy, and Flower String
• Medium oval bristle brush
• Masking tape
• Small stencil roller
1Paint the wall in Giverny and make sure it’s completely dry before you start. Then place the Napoleonic Blue on the MixMat™ and roll out the color with the large roller.
2Place the first stencil randomly on the wall, ensuring that there is enough paint on the roller to stencil several times. (I only used half of the Antheia stencil here and applied about 16 stencils with the one roller of paint.)
3Position the stencil at different angles each time, with lots of space in between the prints in order to vary the pattern slightly.
4Use the oval bristle brush to put some Louis Blue on the MixMat™ and load the roller with paint, combining both the colors to create a mid-tone paint. Don’t worry if the paint isn’t mixed in.
5Position the stencil on the wall again, overprinting the first stencil in Napoleonic Blue with the Louis Blue.
The most difficult aspect of stenciling a wall is navigating the corners and also toward the ceiling. You might find that you have to cut part of your stencil in order to get into these difficult areas.
6Take into consideration the direction and shapes of the previous stencils, so that you give the design some dynamics.
7Load the roller with paint again, this time adding more Louis Blue to the mix to create a lighter shade, so that you now have stencils in three colors on the wall, but using only two paint colors.
8Take the Petrushka stencil and tape over the parts that you don’t want to use. You could make a paper cutout if you prefer. Repeat for the Arctic Poppy and Flower String stencils.
9Put a dollop of Louis Blue and Barcelona Orange on the MixMat™ (having cleaned the other paint from it thoroughly first).
10Load the small roller with a combination of Barcelona Orange and Louis Blue, and print the flowers from the Petrushka, Arctic Poppy, and Flower String stencils on the wall.
