This year, I set myself some New Year’s Resolutions. One of them was to limit purchasing new DIY kits and supplies and instead focus on using up the ones I already own – I have more than enough! So, recently, I decided to work on a painting by numbers set that I got for Christmas from my parents, probably 2 or 3 years ago. Oops! It’s not that I never picked it up because I didn’t like it. Quite the contrary! It was a really thoughtful gift, especially the design they chose – I love mountains with my whole heart, and the picture was just perfect. I just wanted to do it justice, and I felt like I never had enough time and mental capacity to do it well. But finally, I decided to bite the bullet and give it a go. It took me a while to complete it, but I’m in love with the final result!

Contents of the set

The set included a canvas with the outline of the design printed on it – it was a soft canvas, a primed piece of fabric. It wasn’t stretched on a frame.

There were 24 small, numbered paint pots included in the set, three brushes, and a pair of metal screws and hooks – for hanging the finished piece. There was also a printed copy of the design pattern, which is really useful in case you accidentally paint over the actual canvas in the wrong place.

Right away, I noticed that some areas were really, really small. I took a picture with the paintbrush for scale. In a few cases, I ended up having to guess what number the small areas were supposed to be. The font was so small, I wasn’t able to read it with full confidence.

Starting off

I decided to work on the painting colour by colour, in the order they were numbered. The first few colours were used for large areas of the painting, and I was a little concerned that the tiny paint pots wouldn’t be enough. Luckily, I was wrong! There was enough paint to complete the large pieces of sky and water.

Interestingly, I later noticed that not all of the paint pots were filled equally. The colours that were only used for small areas of the painting seemed to be supplied in smaller amounts, whereas pots with colours used for large areas were almost full to the brim. Smart!

Making progress

As I was progressing through the colours, a little worry entered my mind. Since it took me a few years to finally get started on this project, what if some of the paints had dried up? The first few colours were fine, but I did notice that some of them appeared thicker than the others… But for now, it was fine. I made good progress, and the painting was starting to come to life.

First troubles

Once I got to the teen numbers of the paints, I came across a couple of colours that were definitely on the thicker side. I added a fair amount of water and stirred everything well with a brush, and luckily, I was able to bring the paints to a useable state. I continued painting, and, half way through the colours, the picture was looking good! At that point, I was on evening 3 or 4 of painting this project.

Nearly there

I was nearly there, when my fears came true. One of the paints – number 21 out of 24, to be specific – was fully set. No amount of water and stirring could help bring it back to life. It became a rubbery blob – pliable, but dry. Yikes!

So, I had to improvise. The colour I needed was a mid-dark blue for the water. I used some of the leftover blue paints from other numbers and mixed them together on the side, adding a little bit of acrylic paints from my own stash too. That way, I managed to create a shade similar to the paint that was unuseable. I used it to paint the areas marked with number 21.

Being so close to the finish line, I also started looking through the canvas and filled some of the areas marked with lower numbers that I missed. There were also a few small areas that were missing a number altogether, so I had to decide what colours matched them best.

Finished result

And finally, I completed the remaining colours – as well as some remaining small areas I missed previously – and the beautiful painting of a lake in the mountains was finished. I absolutely love how it turned out! I’m particularly impressed with the shading of the wooden fence, actually. It looks so realistic!

I postponed working on this project for years, wanting to do it justice. Did I manage? I’m not sure, but it still turned out great. It took me about a week to complete this project, painting in my spare time in the evenings. It definitely required a lot of patience, and I probably rushed it a bit too much on some occasions. Overall, though, I enjoyed working on this project. But equally, I think I’ve got enough painting for the foreseeable future!

In the past, I completed a couple of other painting by numbers sets – one with a panda, and one with a neon giraffe. A few more sets and I’ll be able to cover a whole wall with my creations!

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