Discovering My Inner Artist With This Beautiful Paint By Numbers Kit

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The kind folks at Winnie’s Picks recently gifted me this beautiful paint by numbers kit.

Probably like most people, I haven’t completed paint by numbers since I was a child but remembered I used to really enjoy them.  Also as I’m not particularly artistic myself, the opportunity to produce a beautiful picture was fantastic!

I was able to choose from a range of ready-made kits on the Winnie’s Picks website.

Winnie’s Picks can also take one of your own photos and turn it into a kit for you.  They offered this to me, but I was a bit worried about picking something too complicated!  I decided instead to stick with one of the ready-made ones.

 

 

Paint By Numbers – Vibrant Abstract Cat

 

The vibrant abstract cat jumped out at me and appealed to my inner mad cat lady as soon as I went on the website!  So I picked that one.  I was also pleased to see it was listed under the ‘easy’ category.

The company is US-based but ship all over the world.  I was impressed that my kit reached me in the UK within a couple of weeks of placing my order.

The kit arrived nicely packaged in a tube which contained the rolled canvas, a smaller paper duplicate version, the paints, the brushes and full instructions.  It also contained some loops for hanging (although you need to purchase your own frame with this one).

 

 

The instructions also referred to extra tips on the website which I’d definitely recommend taking a look at before you start.

 

Making A Start

 

Being a bit old with deteriorating eyesight 😉 I did find the numbers a bit small to see.  Especially in the more detailed areas.  I soon fixed this by wearing some cheap reading glasses to paint (my expensive varifocals just weren’t cutting it!)

The colours are lovely and vibrant.  Mixing the paint with a couple of drops of water is helpful as it is quite thick.  I did this on an old plate which made me feel more like an artist with my ‘pallette’!

 

 

I was a bit nervous at making a mistake at first.

Putting some of my favourite music on in the background and singing along whilst I painted soon had me relaxed.

In fact, the whole process was really quite relaxing, taking my head out of real-life for a while and focussing on creating something.

 

No Need To Worry About Mistakes

 

Early on in the project, I painted over a section that should be a light colour with a darker colour by mistake!

I also managed to drop the brush when I was painting dark sections and the paint-splattered across the canvas.  Eek!!

There was really no need to worry though, as it’s easy to paint over mistakes with non-watered down paint in the right colour.  Even one section which should have been white and I’d painted darker was easily fixed.

 

 

Another thing I liked about the kit was that the brushes were of good quality.   I took a look at what other kits are out there.  Many come with flimsy, plasticky brushes, but the brushes in this kit are wooden and feel sturdy.

I didn’t use all of them, only the large one for filling larger areas and the very small one for outlining and doing more intricate sections.

There was no bristle loss from the brushes at all.  Even now I’ve finished the painting the two brushes I used could definitely go on to paint another day!

 

Benefits Of Paint By Numbers

 

As well as allowing people (like me) who can’t draw the opportunity to be creative, there are a number of other benefits to painting by numbers

• It’s relaxing and can reduce overwhelm and anxiety.
• The sense of accomplishment and achievement is a really good feeling.
• I found it to be a form of meditation, it took me out of my own head whilst I focussed solely on what I was doing.
• It is a lovely distraction from the stresses and strains of everyday life.

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My Top Tips

 

If you fancy giving paint by numbers a go, here are some of my tips to help you produce awesome results.

Mix the colours with a few drops of water on an old plate.  You could mix with a toothpick, but I’m lazy so I used the smallest brush!  This seemed to work absolutely fine for me.

Have a pot with some water and a small amount of washing up liquid to hand to wash your brushes.  Also, have some paper towels to wipe excess water and paint off your brushes.

Paint one colour at a time.  If you are going to do a few colours in a session, start with the lighter ones first (this makes it much easier to wash the brushes and prevents accidentally getting darker colour in your lighter one!)

I’d also suggest starting with the larger areas.  This is certainly what I did.  The smaller areas scared me a bit at first, but I felt quite well practised once I got to them.

I would recommend keeping the picture of the finished picture close at hand to refer to.

There were a couple of instances where I wasn’t sure if I’d painted in the right colour.  Or I painted over a number and lost track of where the end of a section was.

The picture (there was one on the tube and one inside) kept me right.  I didn’t find the paper mini version of the paint by numbers grid as useful, mainly as the numbers on that definitely were too small for my eyes.

 

Final Thoughts

 

I really enjoyed this paint by numbers kit.

It gave me a huge sense of satisfaction and I can’t wait to have it hanging on the wall!

Would I do another one?

Most definitely!  I’d even try a more complicated one in the future.

I’d love to hear what you think of my finished artwork and if this has inspired you to have a go at your own paint by numbers.  Let me know in the comments!

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