Description
Two Figures in Silence Against Grey Paint by Numbers Kit
Two young people stand close together but do not touch, and neither of them is looking at the other’s face. On the left, a young man in a loose white cotton shirt turns his head down and away, his dark hair falling forward in a thick tousled mass over his forehead, one bare arm hanging at his side painted in warm ochre and burnt sienna. Beside him a young woman in a black top stands half turned away, her own dark hair cropped and messy, her face in profile looking back over her shoulder, her hands resting together in front of her. Between them the canvas is empty grey blue with nothing in it at all. Skin is the only warm passage on the whole picture, worked in ochres, terracotta and dusty pink with the shadows held in cool greys, and the clothes are built from broad flat strokes of pure white and near black with long slashes of blue grey through them where the light passes. Across the surface, thin horizontal orange lines, blocks of tiny pale text and hard-edged pale rectangles cut through the paint like screen glitches.
This canvas is painted with the brush rather than filled in, so the marks should stay long, flat and decisive, and the temptation to smooth the fabrics into soft gradients should be resisted entirely. The white shirt and the black top are the two large jobs, and each needs only three or four values: a base, a lit side and a shadow, kept in large simple shapes. Skin is where the warmth lives, and it should stay warm even in shadow rather than turning grey, since that contrast with the cold background is what gives the figures their life. The glitch elements, the orange lines and text blocks, are the last thing to add and should be drawn crisply with a ruler-straight hand, because their mechanical hardness is what sets off the loose painting.
What Is Included in the Kit
- One pre-printed canvas with numbered sections, sized 16×20 inches
- 24 numbered acrylic paint pots covering warm skin ochres, thick whites, deep blacks and grey blues
- Three professional detail brushes for the faces, hair strands, hands and glitch lines
- A colour reference sheet showing the completed artwork
- Printed instructions suitable for complete beginners
Sizes and Options
Available as a 16×20 inch canvas with a 24 colour palette. Choose No Frame – Rolled if you would like to frame the finished piece yourself, or Pre-Stretched Frame if you would rather begin right away and hang it as soon as it dries.
Quiet, Modern and Deeply Felt
Fewer colours and larger strokes than most canvases here make this one come together quickly, and the melancholy mood it carries is unusual in a paint by numbers. The finished picture suits a bedroom, studio, study or living room, and it looks superb in a black or slim white frame. A thoughtful gift for anyone who likes modern figurative art.