In Defense of Paint By Numbers

As you know, SO and I have been making the rounds for the past several months at a fair number of antique malls. When this all started, I was only interested in a couple of things, but interestingly, as times has passed, my list of things that I hunt for has grown. Oddly enough, that list now includes paint by numbers pictures.

I won't pretend that I don't still see that they are cheesy, but I'd rather view them as SO observed: "they are impressionistic, it brought art to the masses..." I prefer that romantic view.

They are also inexpensive to collect -- Over the weekend I found several framed pieces and spent less than $50. Amongst the purchases were these two that I'd eye-balled several weeks ago and went back to claim:

















These poor things were so dirty...which led to an exploration on how to clean them...which led us down the path of trying squished up white bread...which didn't work...so I left the white bread at SO's cause I don't eat it...which resulted in my getting a text message that I left my bread...no one wants that bread!

We ended up cleaning the paintings with fair success with just a damp paper towel. It was crazy to see how much prettier the colors were once we cleaned off some of the dirt. These two beauties were just $12 for the pair. My kitchen has a bit of a Mexican decor so that's where they are going once framed.

Now, I'd just love to find a paint by numbers featuring some type of oriental scene...