Let's talk: Antibes Green

Last week, I finally ended a battle that had been ongoing for far too long.  Before I opened my booth, I had picked up a cute little dresser with my brother on our way to a haunted house in St. Louis.  It was very plain with just a design nicely painted on one drawer, and had sweet little chunky feet.

I thought it would be fun to do it in a bright, fun color.  I pulled out my brand new can of Antibes green and got to work.

Two coats later, I had what I referred to as Frankenstein (it was Halloween...seriously, that long ago).  That thing was GREEN.  Lime green.  Blinding.  I'd read a lot about how dark wax can really tone it down, so I distressed it and went over it with clear, and then a pretty heavy coat of dark wax.  I had envisioned it coming out like the example piece on Annie Sloan's website.

It didn't.  The dark wax started dragging (which you must know is impossible to fix once it's happened...touch ups fix that area but make the surrounding ones darker, so it's still noticeable, and just looks dirty).  I painted over the areas that dragged with green, again...and tried, again.  It didn't work, again.  So I mixed some Paris grey with a little green because I REALLY wanted this darn dresser to be green, but not GREEN.  I painted it, and hated it too.  Augh.

At this point, I was ready to throw the thing in the ally.  Ever have one of those?  I was so mad at it, and the amount of this expensive paint and wax I had wasted on it!  I decided it must not want to be any shade of green, so I pulled out my old white, slapped two coats on, and distressed it.

And then the green wasn't so bad, because where I distressed, this little bit of green peeked through like a happy surprise on a plain canvas.

So, I thought I'd give Antibes green another shot...on a smaller piece.  You know, maybe I had just been doing something really wrong?  I picked up a little half moon table that had been painted hunter green with flowers all over it's top as the candidate. I stripped and stained the top, and painted the bottom and did the same clear and dark wax as on the dresser.  My thinking was that with a smaller area, the green wouldn't be so overwhelming.

Well, it still is.  It turned out okay, but it's still pretty in-your-face intense, and not really my cup of tea, but I could see it sitting on someone's front porch nestled between two chairs.  I think I would like it if it were more apple colored than lime.  If I had more colors, I'm sure I could mix it to get it where I like, but I don't honestly think I'll order Antibes again.  

What are your thoughts on the color?  Have you used it on a piece and hated it?  Loved it?  My google search turned out pretty limited examples of pieces painted with it, so if you've done something in Antibes I want to see it!

See you soon,



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