Paint By Numbers

 Remember my Italy post where I told you how a DIY painting inspire me to travel to Italy? Well this article is about that painting. There was a push card that started selling these paint by numbers box set where I work, and everyday I would walk past it. At that point, I just got my own place in my hometown of Penang and have all these crazy ideas on how I would decorate it. I wanted to decorate it with paintings, but I didn't want to spend money on them. Frankly, I thought if I painted the paintings myself, they would be more meaningful. So one fine evening, I got myself a set of a riviera scene. The box came with the canvas, the paints, and one brush. All you have to do is match the colors with the numbers on the canvas. Pretty straight forward. You started out pretty mechanical, but after a while, you realize it doesn't really matter whether you follow the numbers or not, so long as you get the idea, the painting would still come out ok.

 

So I started one weekend to paint it. It took me 8 hours to get from the first picture above, to the second picture below! My back was hurting by that time. I suddenly have a strong appreciation of painters and their art. The painting was so vibrant in colour, and I told myself that I wanted to visit such a place one day, which kinda kick start my mad plan to visit Italy to find such a scene. You can read about my Italy trip 2013 here.

Here's a picture of my hard at work in my living room. Look at those killer arms of mine :P You should have seen those arms after my trip. Backpacking does wonders to your body! Anyway, till today, the painting is not yet completed. Me bad. But one day, I promise you, it is going to hang in one of the walls in  my place retirement home in Penang. Maybe I'll get another painting to inspire me to travel to another mysteriously beautiful place? Who knows? And then my wall would be covered with memories of great adventure in all those crazy places! What a way to live! For a list of Italian Riviera you can visit, see reference below. The place I visited was Cinque Terre, technically not a riviera, but just as beautiful all the same :)


Ref
Paint By Numbers
Italian Riviera
Cinque Terre