When I get to the gift market, it doesn't take too many showroom stops before I start picking up on the latest trends in the colors, patterns, styles, décor, novelties, and gadgets that are arriving on the scene for the coming year. There were those years when everything I saw had a bird on it. There was the pink and gold trend. There was the owl, then the unicorn, llama, sloth, flamingo, and cactus- in that order. There have been many years of the farmhouse-themed décor with chickens, eggs, wind vanes, and rusty pots galore- that one is still out there but, hopefully, in its golden years. The crazy socks, adult coloring books, fidget spinners, and coiled hair ties have each had their time as new kid on the block. Last year, squishy toys were all the rage. This year, animal prints seem really big, and, over and over again, I saw something that grabbed this soon-to-be empty nester's attention. They were really nice adult paint by number kits.

Now, I didn't order any for the stores, but I came home and decided I'd order one for myself and see how I liked it. Some evenings, I've found myself with more time on my hands than I'm used to with my children being grown and all. I've gotten into a couple of shows on Hulu. I have a nightly appointment with the treadmill. I try to blog once a week. And I've taken up reading again as it's been a long time since I've had time to read books with much consistency. So, in the interest of finding a new pastime or two to mix up this evening lineup, I ordered myself one of those paint by number sets like I'd seen.

I chose a beautiful fall scene. You know how I feel about that most glorious season and, as involved as the picture looked, I thought maybe I could have it done by late fall. The image portraying the glorious colors of autumn and the promise of cooler weather seemed to be an inspirational goal worth working towards. Well, it came in and did not disappoint. It was printed on a large 16"x20 piece of canvas and included everything I'd need to create the masterpiece. My creative juices don't lend themselves to free-handed painting or drawing, so this preprinted art route would be the only way I would ever be able to produce anything that wouldn't look like a kid's Bible school craft.
So, a couple of weeks ago, not sure how I was going to like this whole painting thing, I sat down with my water cup, stretched out the canvas, and pulled out all the supplies. I put the image of what the finished product should look like off to the side for inspiration. The directions suggested starting with color #1 and painting all the colors in order. The shades get darker as the numbers get higher and progressing from light to dark would apparently help with blending, so I obliged.

I got out the smallest brush, opened my first paint color, #1, and looked the canvas over for all the spaces marked with the corresponding number. It was a very light color, which I presumed would ultimately only serve as the background for part of the picture. What a bore. The faint color was barely a contrast with the ivory colored canvas, but I filled them all in with the pale hue and went back to recheck the vast sea of numbered shapes for any I'd missed. There wasn't that much to fill in for that first subtle color, but I was sure to go over them twice, so to give more coverage to the numbers underneath. An added challenge with which Rembrandt and Picasso never had to contend.

I cleaned my brush and opened paint #2. It was a little darker and gave me a little more instant satisfaction given its more visible results. I'd find a cluster of 2's down near the bottom and then a few clusters to the side of that and then there was this one little 2 in the very top right corner of the picture. It was up there all by itself among a lot of darker colors that would have to come along later. As an unskilled artist, I found it improbable that the little isolated smattering of the color that I was laboring with at that moment could possibly ever tie into the work that would be done at a later time, but, being so very unaccomplished in the art, I was careful to rely on the instructions of the professionals and not chart my own course. Bob Ross, I am not, and I knew there would be nothing happy about the trees if I tried to depict them in my own way.

As the colors progressed to #3, I opened it up and didn't consider it to be very pretty. Kind of ugly, really. I'm pretty sure color #3 could only be replicated in nature within a baby's diaper. And, while some of the shapes numbered with 3 were easily filled in with their smooth edges and predictable forms, others were quite arduous to complete. They were long and meandering and full of narrow, tight spots that were hard to navigate with a brush. Some were so involved that I'd think I'd never get them behind me. But, trusting it would all come together with breathtaking results, I kept my head down and forged ahead in my work even when I had doubts and questions along the way. After all, who was I to second guess the good people down at the paint by number factory?