A quick note before anything else: Ledgebay ships within the United States only. If you are reading this from Australia, we cannot sell you a kit, and we would rather say so in the first line than waste your afternoon. What follows is the buying advice we would give a friend, with nothing to sell attached to it.
Large paint by numbers is a popular search in Australia and a confusing one to shop, because large is used loosely and half the listings are the same unbranded canvas under a different name. Here is what the sizes actually mean and what separates a kit worth your money from one that will frustrate you.
What large actually means
Numbered canvases cluster around three sizes, and the metric equivalents are worth knowing because Australian listings mix the two.
- 12 x 16 inches, roughly 30 x 40 cm. The standard kit. Ten to twenty hours for most people, spread over a few weeks.
- 16 x 20 inches, roughly 40 x 50 cm. What almost every seller means by large. About two-thirds more surface area than the standard size.
- 18 x 24 inches, roughly 45 x 60 cm. Genuinely big, and usually printed to order rather than stocked.
You will see 60 x 80 cm and larger advertised. At that scale the numbered sections get so broad that the numbering stops doing much for you, and the canvas becomes awkward to work on at a kitchen table. Bigger is not automatically better here.
Five things to check before you order
Rolled, not folded
This is the single most common complaint in the whole category and the easiest to avoid. A canvas folded into a flat envelope arrives with creases through the artwork, and they do not come out. A canvas shipped rolled in a tube arrives flat. Listings that ship folded rarely say so, so look for the word rolled or tube and treat its absence as a warning.
Whether the numbers are legible
Faint or tiny printed numbers are the second most common complaint, and they are the reason people abandon a canvas half finished. Two things help: a larger canvas, because the same design printed bigger has bigger sections, and a full-size reference print in the box rather than a postage-stamp thumbnail on the packaging.
How much paint you get
On a large canvas the dominant color runs out first, usually a sky or a background green. Ask whether replacement paint is available at all before you buy. Plenty of sellers have no way to send you more of color 14, which means one empty pot ends the project.
Framed or unframed, decided up front
An unframed canvas is usually trimmed close to the edge, which means it is meant for a mat and a shop-bought frame, not for stretching over timber bars yourself. There is often not enough margin to staple. If you want it on a frame, buy it framed rather than planning to solve it later. Our guide to framing a finished paint by number canvas covers the options either way.
What is actually in the box
A complete kit is the canvas, the numbered paints, brushes in a range of sizes, and a reference image. Anything beyond that is a bonus. Anything missing from that is a second purchase you were not expecting.
Getting a large canvas finished
The paint is too thick
Common, and easily fixed. A single drop of water stirred into the pot brings acrylic back to a workable consistency. Add it a drop at a time. Watered too far, the paint goes transparent and will not cover the printed numbers.
Light colors first, or dark colors first
Both orders are defended, and it is worth understanding the trade-off rather than following a rule.
Working light to dark is the forgiving option. Dark acrylic is dense enough to cover a light color that has strayed over a line in one coat, while light acrylic will not cover dark no matter how many coats you give it. Paint the pale sections first and your mistakes stay fixable.
Working dark to light is what many experienced painters do, because laying in the darkest values first gives you a contrast map to judge everything else against. It is the better approach if you are confident with a brush and the worse one if you are not.
Whichever you pick, one rule genuinely holds: let a section dry before you paint the section next to it. Ten minutes is usually enough, and it prevents two wet colors bleeding into each other along the boundary.
Finish one color before opening the next
Work through every section of a single number before moving on. It saves washing the brush constantly, it keeps the color consistent across the canvas, and it makes the progress visible, which is most of why people enjoy this. Hopping between colors is how a large canvas turns into a half-finished one in a cupboard.
Light colors may need two coats
Whites, creams and yellows often let the printed number show through. Let the first coat dry completely and go over it once more rather than trying to bury the number in one thick pass. Thick paint stays visible as a ridge long after it dries.
Common questions
Is a large kit harder than a standard one?
No, it is longer. Same brushwork, same palette, more of it. If anything a large canvas is easier on the eyes, because the sections are bigger.
Do I need an easel?
Not for a rolled canvas, which is worked flat on a table. An easel matters more with a framed canvas, where working upright is more comfortable over long sessions and you can step back to judge it.
Can I use oil paints instead?
Not on a kit designed for acrylics. The two behave completely differently on a primed numbered canvas, and oil takes days to dry rather than minutes. Use what the kit supplies.
Where can Australians buy one?
We are not going to send you to a competitor by name, because we have no way of knowing what any given seller is shipping this month. Use the five checks above on whatever you find locally. Rolled in a tube and legible numbering are the two that matter most.
Do you ship to Australia?
No. Ledgebay ships within the United States only. If you are shopping from the US, our full range of kits is here, and the beginner's guide is the best place to start if this is your first canvas.
