Annie was inspired by the Ancient Greek pottery collection at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford when painting this IKEA stool.

Annie was inspired by the huge collection of Ancient Greek pottery at the Ashmolean Museum in Oxford to create this opaque pitch black colour. Athenian Black has been designed with an opulence of pigment in order to suggest impenetrable shadow, like the black used to render silhouetted figures on terracotta coloured clay ware in Classical times.

The seat of this IKEA stool was first painted in Chalk Paint® in Arles, then painted with Athenian Black, then Clear Chalk Paint® Waxed. Annie then used an artist’s knife to scratch out a Greek-style likeness of a dog, revealing the Arles beneath the black. Click here for more on this sgraffito technique. She then brushed away the scraped off paint and Waxed to finish and protect.

For more on Annie’s inspiration, pick up a copy of The Colourist Issue 3.