I saw one of those horrors at a yard sale…they were preprinted canvassses, to which you applied paint to. Eventually, you wound up with something that looked like a painting.
Anyway, are these things still around? do some collectors look for them?
I hope so - I love doing them! I did one about ten years ago. It looked terrible, of course, but it was an incredibly relaxing activity for someone who loves colour but is artistically-challenged.
A lot of arts & crafts stores sell them. If you have a Hobby Lobby near you, they will have a large selection.
The whole Paint by Numbers craze was a lot more interesting and widespread that you might think. I went to see this exhibit at the Smithsonian National Museum of American History back in 2001 and really enjoyed it.
I always liked the idea of paint by numbers (and its relative, where you’d peel off a numbered label and sprinkle some sort of velvety fibrous material over it to make a velvet painting) but the subject matter was always so bland and lame.
I was in a craft store last week, and they had paint by numbers in oil and acrylic. They also had pencil by numbers, which looked rather interesting. I have to admit that I have a butterfly coloring book which shows butterflies and their caterpillars. I use my BIG collection of colored pencils in it. My husband got a bit jealous, so I had to get him a coloring book, too, of race cars. Coloring is quite relaxing. Why should little kids have all the fun?
I got my daughter several of the pencil by number kits for Christmas. She really enjoyed them and framed her work. IMO they come out much nicer looking than the paint by number kits which she also enjoys.