I’ve always admired how people can draw and paint beautiful things. I even struggled to teach my kids to draw easy objects like houses, or animals. But I never managed to take the first step and get some experience and learn how to paint things.
You know, there are plenty of art schools or online courses, but you need time and money to get anything out of that. I have always been too lazy to start. And what’s more, I never had the patience to go on despite no success.
But one day I’ve learned about these beginner-level painting kits. It’s exactly what I needed. I got a paint-by-numbers canvas of a beautiful peacock and I was convinced to finish it.
The first important thing for me was that it included the canvas, the paints, and the brushes. As I had no tools on my own, these few things were actually needed to succeed.
The canvas came rolled-in, protected by a layer of bubble foil and cardboard. It came pre-drawn with the motive of a beautiful peacock. Everything was split into tiny little spots. Well, not all of them were tiny, some of them being larger, but at the first look, it was so small.
Each spot was numbered. That was important. That’s why it’s called a “paint by numbers”. You paint the color of the same number as you see on the canvas. It sounds like coloring books for kids. But it’s a bit different.
The difference lies in the materials. Instead of having a paper coloring page you have a real linen canvas. And you don’t use pencils, that would be too easy. You have brushes and acrylic paints. The great thing about it is that you don’t need to mix colors. You only use those that are included in the kit. Nothing more.
The first trick lies in how to start and how to go on. If you’re right-handed, you start from the left. So that you don’t smear the wet paint over the canvas. You need patience, as the neighboring areas need to dry before you continue. But with practice, you learn the trick.
I would also suggest doing some planning beforehand. Don’t just start taking the paint number 1 and look for where to apply it. It’s a big no-no. You have to get an impression of which color is dominant, which needs to cover the largest spots, etc.
If you don’t fail on those first points that I’ve described, you will be successful. And also, please don’t try to work hastily and don’t make your life easier by overlooking the smallest spots and painting them over with inappropriate colors. This will result in fewer details of the final picture. It might then not look that great.
After finishing my peacock canvas I was so proud of myself. The couple of hours I’ve spent with it were really enjoyable. I had to concentrate on myself and sometimes I was really so deep in the work that I forgot the world around me.
But there was another cool thing I found out. When I headed to the website of my favorite supplier, Paint by number shop, I found out that you can actually send them your photo, or a picture. What they do with it, they transform it into a paint by numbers and print it on the canvas. I had our family photo done like that and when it arrived, we were excited about that.
I was working on our family canvas during the Christmas holidays and when I finished it, both my kids and the husband asked me to put it on the wall in our living room. I can imagine when you have friends or somebody who loves doing DIY stuff and you get them such a canvas kit, they will love it. I’m already now looking forward to my next project – lovely flowers and hearts.
It’s amazing how many different designs and amazing pictures you can find on the website I gave you. They add new things weekly and you can browse through them for a long time. So are you going to try painting by numbers now?
