Painting By Numbers: Cherry Blossom

Completed my third Paint by Numbers! This time I did not order from Amazon and tried out this other site. It is actually cheaper than the previous one I ordered. Also, I split the shipping cost with Caroline since she ordered one too so it was about $12 total.

When I first started painting it seemed like the colors didn't really match up to the preview photo. I did the bottom right section first and I was kind of frustrated how the colors didn't match up. I even asked a few friends and they agreed with me as well. I emailed them and after various emails they sent me another preview photo where the colors and space matched. So thankfully that got figured out.

 It turned out pretty well, I am happy with how it turned out yay. Feel like they should advertise it with the more accurate photo of how it will turn out though on their site. Anyways, can't wait to get a frame for it and then hang it up keke. Onto my fourth one weeeeeee.

Painting By Numbers: Colorful Lion

Completed my second Painting By Numbers woohooz! I got this one from Amazon. I wanted my second one to be not too hard and not too many fine details.

Received it in the mail and it was all folded up so I had to use a steamer to try to get most of the creases out. Gabe helped me cut out this huge cardboard so that I had a hard surface to paint on and then I secured the painting in place with paperclips. 

This took me a little over a month, but I did not work on it everyday. I think there was at least a week where I didn't work on it at all. So I would say I probably spent about 10-15 hours on it if I really had to estimate. I was super slow in the beginning because I was being very cautious and tried to utilized as little paint as possible so that I didn't run out. In retrospect, I should've been more generous with the paint since for most of the containers I still have like more than half of the paint left. Only used 2 different paint brushes while painting this.

How it looked when I have it all set up and was about to start painting.

Making some progress. Tried to do all the light colors first.

Completed all the colors. Time to fill the rest in with black paint. So I received some of the same/almost the same shades of certain colors which was a bit frustrating, but I improvised and changed up some of the numbers with other colors in certain areas.

Finished product! It looks so much better with the black filling. Definitely gives the painting more dimension and life. The end result was a lot better than I expected despite changing up the colors for some numbers. A little disappointed that you can still see some of the creases, but hopefully it won't be as noticeable once I frame it.

This is the sticker I received in the kit on how the end result should look like.

Now I need to purchase a 16x20 frame so that I can frame it up :) Just ordered another Paint By Number today and super excited to start that one!

Painting By Numbers

Completed my first Painting By Numbers set that was a Christmas gift from Kim. Thank you Kimmy! I have been putting it off for a while now because I just haven't been in a painting mood and I am just not that good at painting. I didn't even realize that this was called Painting By Numbers until I talked to Catherine about it, but now that I realized, it is so obvious duh. Catherine inspired me to start since we were talking about Painting By Numbers and she showed me the ones she has done, which are so pretty!

So on Sunday evening I started this. Honestly, I went in thinking it would take me like an hour and that it would be easy, but I was so wrong. It was a bit challenging trying to stay within the lines and making sure that everything is blended nicely.

I painted the sky first and it looked so crappy at first. Like there were sections that were way darker than others and it was just not blended out at all. I had to go through it multiple times to even it out. I think I just went in not knowing what I was doing and adding too much water to the paint at times and that was probably why it looked so uneven.

I saved the black paint for last since it was the darkest color and it pretty much outlined and brought the painting to life in my opinion. Initially, I was so tempted to just go over the black part with a black sharpie instead of painting it because I was scared I would mess up, but I didn't follow through with that idea thankfully. It was not too hard except for the guitar string part where I had to be super careful making my lines straight and thin enough. It was actually a lot of fun doing the outlining and slowly seeing the painting come to life.

Finished the painting on Monday night. I worked on it on and off after I got off work on Monday. Fixed up certain areas until I was satisfied. Probably took a total of about 3-4 hours for me to finish this since I went super slow and was super careful to make sure I didn't mess up. I am proud of how it turned out yayy! Feel so accomplished. It is now hanging on the apartment wall where Gabe's guitars are at.

It was a very relaxing and fun experience. Time passed by so quickly when I was doing it. It was also refreshing not staring at a screen for more than an hour. I think I am addicted to Painting By Numbers now hahaha. Last night, I ordered one from Amazon and I am so excited to start on it. Would recommend Painting By Numbers for anyone who is looking for something fun and relaxing to do to pass time.