If I knew then what I know now, friends and family might well be in an art gallery somewhere, admiring the works of art created by Yours Truly through paint-by- number kits.
I’m sure anyone of my age had such an artistic kit with which masterpieces were to be created. In fact, there might be one in a box in the far, dusty corner of a storage area. Certainly, the paints would be dried dust by now but perhaps there might be value in a half-finished painting of puppies or kittens.
This recent interest in a hobby of my youth came about when I read a story about the death of one of the artists responsible for taking paint-by-number from an idea to a successful retail and artistic endeavour.
Dan Robbins probably wasn’t a household name but in 1950 he took his idea to his employer, the Palmer Paint Company in Detroit and with some show-and-tell experiments with his employer and the public, paint-by-number kits were launched.
While artists of some note turned their noses up at the idea that masterpieces could be produced by ordinary folks who had to rely on numbered designs, Robbins quickly pointed out that Leonardo da Vinci made such numbered designs for his helpers. Therefore, if Leo used them, don’t put those noses too high in the air.
Over the course of close to 70 years, sales of paint-by-number and paint-by-crayon kits thrived, and such has been the success that finished works are displayed in galleries and museums. As well, a Paint-By-Number online museum has been established that showcases more than 6,000 completed art works.
One of the selling features was health-related, they being used as a form of therapy to increase self-confidence, and improve motor skills and hand and arm movements. And they are proven to increase one’s concentration.
I loved crayon colouring as a youth and still enjoy it today. Therefore, I recall begging the parents to buy me a beginner paint-by-number box. They provided the usual excuse: “No, they’re too expensive.” But it might have been Christmas or my birthday when they caved in and provided me with what I suspect they hoped would be a hobby that would be more successful than knitting or sewing.
The topic of the design escapes me, but I was determined to finish my first painting and then move on to one with more challenges. Hurry up was my downfall even though I was warned I couldn’t paint numbers beside each other until the paint was dried. But that took too long and so I ventured forward and created quite an abstract design of my own with several colours of wet paint globbing onto each other.
From my recollection, my Mother finished that first painting, doing a colour a day while I was away at school where I confounded the teacher with my stick people and lack of any eye for colour.
The memory is vague here but I do believe I received subsequent kits and finished some of them to look somewhat like the picture on the box. I do not recall any family member or friend offering to hang them in the living-room, kitchen or outhouse. But then that was years before the significance of the finished product was known.
If I were painting today, perhaps I would be scouted for an online show — or not. Then again, the $3.99 kit of a cat might just be what I need to increase my confidence as a wanna-be artist.
Joyce Walter can be reached at ronjoy@sasktel.net
