The Colour Queen’s Maltese connection

The ‘Colour Queen’ has landed in Malta. Annie Sloan, a paint pioneer best known for inventing Chalk Paint, is visiting the island for the first time to mark the local launch of her brand – and to reconnect with a surprising family link to Malta’s past.

Sloan, who was appointed Commander of the Order of the British Empire (CBE) in 2023, is in Malta to celebrate the launch of her paints at Shabby Chic, a well-known furniture-painting and used-furniture company in Birkirkara.

She has been hailed as a colour and paint expert by publications like The Guardian, Home and Garden and Southern Living.

How does she feel about being known as the ‘Colour Queen’?

“I think it’s hilarious. It’s wonderful, and I love it,” she says.

Sloan studied fine art and went on to publish a series of books, starting with The Complete Book of Decorative Paint Techniques.

“I just got very into it and I just thought there’s a market for this. I didn’t realise the market would be quite so big actually,” she said.

Since her first book in 1988, Sloan has published 25 more on the subject, with more than two million copies sold worldwide.

It was in her 40s, while raising three sons, that she created her game-changing product: chalk paint. Now celebrating its 35th anniversary, chalk paint was designed to be simple, fast-drying and versatile.

“My main thing was it was going to be easy and dried quickly,” Sloan explained. “I would take my three children to the village school in the morning. I’d come back, paint it, finish it, wax it, do everything, and I’d go and collect them.” By the time her boys were home, the paint was packed away and the house was back to normal.

I just got very into it and I just thought there’s a market for this. I didn’t realise the market would be quite so big actually- Annie Sloan

Sloan traces her love for colour back to her father – a man with a passion for art, especially Gauguin. But her trip to Malta isn’t only about business. It’s also about retracing family roots.

The Times of Malta connection

Her father, Charles Sloan, was born in Scotland and came to Malta nearly a century ago as personal assistant to Lord Strickland. While here, he met Mabel Strickland – Lord Strickland’s daughter – and joined her as a journalist at Times of Malta, which they co-founded in 1935.

“He had an amazing time here,” said Sloan, showing photographs of the Grand Harbour that her father kept for years after leaving the island. “He did talk about working as a journalist but he also spoke about the incredible nightlife he had experienced,” she added.

Annie Sloan at the offices of Times of Malta. Photo: Alexander Bonello/Shabby Chic

His memories of 1930s Malta included late nights on Strada Stretta, where he was exposed for the first time to queer people, hearing tales of the Spanish Civil War from Spaniards in exile and being “mind blown” by spaghetti.

Charles left Malta around 1938, just before World War II. He went on to settle in New Zealand, where he met Sloan’s mother, Dolores.

Back to 2025, Sloan arrived in Malta on the feast of St Joseph and says the visual power of local curch rituals in Valletta struck her.

“The imagery is just incredible and very strong,” she said, describing Malta’s traditional limestone architecture as “extraordinary”.

According to Sloan, certain tones are a natural match: “Limestone is quite a warm but soft colour. It’s quite creamy. I mean, any sort of greens or purply blues would be absolutely beautiful.”

For Sloan coming to Malta was more than just a product launch – it’s a full-circle moment in the country her father once called home.

The Annie Sloan Chalk Paint launch takes place today, Saturday, March 22, from 11am to 1pm at Shabby Chic, Birkirkara, where visitors can meet the woman behind the brush.