Seaside Village in Italy Paint By Numbers

My second paint-by-numbers picture hangs finally on the wall. I bought the kit shortly after I finished by first paint-by-numbers picture last winter, and it took me longer than a year to open it and start my new picture.

This time I had chosen a kit with a very detailed painting, I wanted it look like a real painting, with tiny brushstrokes and sufficient color range and in this regard I am very satisfied. However, the colors came a little different than the ones I had seen on the computer monitor, when I ordered the kit - they seem to me a bit too loud, gaudy and garish, despite the abundance of white, grey and brown in the picture.

Nevertheless, I enjoyed the process a lot and there will be other paint-by-numbers pictures in the coming years, I'm sure. What I still haven't decided is whether I prefer to buy it framed, as was my first picture, or frame it afterwards, as this second one. The later option is easier to order online and the choice there is limitless, compared to the availability in the physical shops in Sofia.

A few snapshots of the process, which started sometime at the beginning of July: 

14 July 2025

20 July 2025

 

06 August 2025

I am a big lover of audiobooks and I listened to several, both in English and German, during the painting of the picture, which took hundreds of hours to finish.

23 August 2025

 

31 August 2025

 

18 September 2025

I was worried about the crinkles of the canvas, as the kit arrived with the canvas folded in a box. I researched the treatment of the crinkles before I started the painting and ironed it carefully, which removed the crinkles only partially. However, the final stretching of the picture over the frame helped a lot and I don't think the crinkles are visible any more. 

My kit did not contain an acrylic varnish, but I've been researching the topic and I'm thinking of buying some and varnishing the picture, to protect it from dust, moisture and light - not that I consider it a masterpiece, but I nevertheless value the effort and time I invested in it and would be sad, if it was damaged or ruined.

NyHavn Canal in Copenhagen

My first paint-by-numbers picture, finished and hung on the wall :)

To my utter shame, I bought the set of canvas, brushes and paints two years ago, but only at the beginning of this year I found the desire to open it and try it. As I had suspected, painting by numbers turned out to be totally my thing, very similar to cross stitching and puzzle assembling. Some days i would paint for hours, listening to an audiobook. 

 

However, I do not intend to fill the house with my "paintings", so probably one painting per year would be my limit, I would like to have more time for my other hobbies too.

A close-up of the painting. As I had never had any experience with painting with acrylic paints, the thought that the paints might dry, had never occurred to me. Unfortunately, the quality of some of the paints was very poor and I suspect it is because they were too old. The quality of the set is also not very good, I've seen better versions of this particular painting, with more harmoniously selected colors. I am especially unhappy with one of the blues of the sky, but as a whole I like it a lot and I really enjoy watching it on the wall in the kitchen.

Here are some photos I took in the course of the process. It all started on January 09.

January 10

January 13

January 14

January 15

January 16

January 18

January 19

January20

January 21

January 22

January 24

January 25

January 27

January 31 - final day! The last tiny small areas are covered with paint :)