Hook, Line, & Sinker
Last December I kept getting advertisements in my Facebook feed for paint-by-number kits from a place called ColourMost. They were all were all fun, vibrantly colored mountain scenes, and me being the sucker I am, immediately wanted one. This is nothing new; Facebook targeted ads often reel me in.
It also just so happened that I was looking for projects to keep me occupied over the winter. I thought one of these paint-by-numbers would be perfect! As a bonus, a completed painting would look great hanging in the guest bedroom!
I held off ordering right away, but because I had clicked on one of these ads one time, they were now showing up even more frequently in my Facebook feed. The more times I saw the paint-by-numbers, the more I wanted one. It wasn’t long before I caved in. I chose #11 from the “Colorful Mountains” series, which probably contained the most, as well as the smallest, details of all the different options.
Below is the original artwork on which the paint-by-number was based:
Ordering & Shipping
While the company advertises free shipping, it’s not technically free. They tack on a $5.00 “shipping protection fee” that protects your order from “damage, loss, or theft during shipping.” While you can toggle this option off, I figured I’d better not. Surely without paying this fee, my order would have been damaged, lost, or stolen, and I’d be out almost 30 bucks.
I received a shipping notification pretty quickly, and I realized that my kit was coming straight from China. Despite it “shipping” right away, it took several days for my kit to make any progress. However, once it finally left China, I received it pretty fast. None of this mattered to me though. I had no plans to start painting until late January-early February.
Out of the Box
The kit includes 24 different paint colors, all individually numbered, three assorted paint brushes, a tiny image of the finished paint-by-number, some useless mounting hardware, and the canvas. The canvas comes rolled up pretty tight, so you will need to tape it to whatever surface on which you plan to paint. In my case, it was my dining table.
The Good, Bad, & Ugly
The painted surface of the canvas was not the advertised size.
The website states that the painting is 16×20. Mine was actually 15.75×19.5, which would make it impossible to frame without including part of the messy margins. I decided I would remedy this by painting a solid color border around my finished work. I bought Frog tape for delicate surfaces in order to get nice crisp edges.
The actual paint-by-number was quite different than the original artwork.
…and not for the better. Some of the color and design choices were “WTF” as well as just plain ugly!
In some cases, the color coding on the canvas even differed from the sample paint-by-number image that was included in the kit!
Below are some examples of the WTF-ery I’m talking about. The original artwork is on the left, mine is on the right:
Some of the paints are quite clumpy.
And this may be a “me” thing, but I could never seem to get the consistency right when adding a drop of water at a time. The paint was either still too thick & clumpy, or it was too watery. There was no happy medium. Perhaps it would have worked better with something other than water, but I didn’t want to invest anymore* money into this project.
Another problem with the paints was the fact that they became increasingly dried out as I continued to paint. I guess that’s to be expected when you’re working with such small containers.
As I got to the smaller cells, many of their numbers were either missing or illegible.
To compound the problem, many of the colors called for on the actual paint-by-number were different than the colors depicted on the sample paint-by-number!
In these instances, I wound up choosing my own colors.
I ran out of two paint colors.
One of which, I easily substituted with a similar color. The second color, a dark green, I had to substitute with a medium green. By that point, I was already choosing most of my own colors anyway.
*You may need to invest money in additional supplies.
I recommend I prepping your canvas with clear gesso, which among other things, will provide a smoother painting surface.
You may also want to invest in a magnifying glass. I would not have been able to complete my painting without one.
If you choose a kit with smaller details like mine, you will want to purchase a set of micro brushes. I exclusively used a #00000 brush on the last leg of my painting, for which I had saved the smaller details.
I also purchased the Frog tape in order to create a border.
The Verdict
Despite the negatives, for the most part, I really enjoyed completing my paint-by-number. It gave me something to look forward to for two weeks. By leaving all of my supplies on the table ready to go, I could easily paint whenever I wanted to—or step away when I would get frustrated. Additionally, although the paint-by-number is quite different than the original artwork, in the end, I was left with an overall attractive, colorful painting to hang in my guest bedroom.
The biggest drawback was the fact that I ordered a kit with too many minute details—a mistake I will not make again in the future. In fact, I loved painting so much that I ordered two more kits! Now that I have learned a thing or two, my next two kits should provide a better experience.
However, I did not order them from ColourMost; instead, I ordered them from ArtVibe, which appears to be exactly the same site as ColourMost except the paint-by-numbers are 3 bucks cheaper and the “shipping protection” is only 3 bucks rather than 5.
My next two kits:
Original Artwork vs. Finished Painting
Painting the Border & Framing
While I did paint a border, it turns out that I didn’t need it. The frame I purchased ended up covering the border area. Depending on the frame you use, however, you may not be so lucky. Speaking of frames…
If you’re looking for quality, affordable frames, checkout MCS Industries, Inc. on Amazon. No, I am not an Amazon affiliate nor am I affiliated with MCS. I just really like their frames! I especially love that they come with a sawtooth hanger attached. They are also durable. A couple months ago, my cat knocked one of my MCS frames off the wall, and it was surprisingly unscathed.
This is the one I went with for my paint-by-numbers:
This frame has received an overall rating of 4.7 stars out of 5 by 34,693 reviewers! Check out the ratings by features:
The Final Product
Original Progress Updates
- My Paint-by-Number Adventure: Day One
- My Paint-by-Number Adventure: Days Two & Three
- My Paint-by-Number Adventure: Days Four & Five
- My Paint-by-Number Adventure: Days Six-Eight
- My Paint-by-Number Adventure: Days Nine-Twelve
- My Paint-by-Number Adventure: Days 13-15
- My Paint-by-Number Adventure: Days 16-18