This is the practical version: how to set a kit up so it actually gets finished. For the honest account of what the evidence does and does not support, see what the research says about painting and stress. This page assumes you have a kit, or are about to. The same setup advice, written for anyone, covers the non-service version.
Most unfinished kits fail for logistical reasons rather than motivational ones. Bad light, nowhere to leave the canvas, or a design that turned out to be four hundred tiny sections. All three are avoidable before you open the box.
Pick the design on difficulty, not on the picture
The photograph on the box tells you almost nothing about how a kit paints. Four things do:
- Color count. Printed on the box, and the best single guide. Twenty-four colors is a handful of evenings. Forty-plus is a multi-week undertaking.
- Section size. Look at the busiest part of the image. That is where the last third of your time goes.
- Faces. A face needs many small sections and unforgiving value steps. Landscapes, cabins and open water tolerate an imprecise edge in a way a face never will.
- How close the colors sit. Eight greens that look identical in the pot are harder than twelve colors that are obviously different.
For a first kit, framed is worth the difference. The canvas comes stretched over wooden bars, so there is nothing to do at the end but hang it. An unframed kit is a rolled sheet, and ours are trimmed close to the printed edge, so do not count on stretching one later.
Set the space up once
Ten minutes here saves an evening later.
- Light first. Daylight is best, a good lamp second, positioned so your hand does not shadow the section you are working on. This is the most common reason a kit gets abandoned.
- Two water pots. One to get the worst off, one to finish. A single jar becomes grey soup within the hour and puts that grey into your next color.
- Paper towel to dry the brush after rinsing. A wet brush thins the next color without you noticing.
- Lay the pots out in number order beside the canvas. It sounds fussy and it saves a lot of hunting.
- Leave it out if you can. A canvas that has to be unpacked each time usually is not.
A Ledgebay kit includes the pre-primed canvas, vacuum-sealed premixed acrylics, four brushes in different sizes, and an 11 by 17 reference print so you are working from something you can actually see. Framed kits also include a small wooden tabletop easel. Nothing else is needed, and we no longer sell brushes separately.
The order that makes it easy
Background first, then forward through the picture. Within that, darkest colors to lightest. The darks act as an outline and let the composition emerge, and a light color painted over a slight dark overrun will cover it. The reverse will not.
Then finish every section of one number before opening the next pot. This is the most useful habit in the whole process: fewer rinses, less paint lost in the water, and only one pot open at a time — which matters, because acrylic skins over within minutes of meeting air.
Right-handed, start top left. Left-handed, top right. It keeps your cuff out of what you have already painted.
What goes wrong, and the fix
- Paint has thickened in the pot. One drop of water, stirred with a toothpick. More than a drop and coverage suffers. Fully cured paint cannot be rescued at all.
- A printed number shows through a pale color. Normal. Let the first coat dry completely and go over it again rather than piling more on while wet.
- Wrong color in a section. Let it dry, then paint the correct color straight over the top. Acrylic is opaque and this is the most forgiving thing about it.
- The canvas arrived creased. Deal with it before you start, working from the back, keeping steam away from the printed side.
- A heavily used color runs out. Most common on large canvases with a lot of sky. Extra paint sets exist for most designs.
- The finest sections are a strain. A lamp and a magnifier, or the larger canvas next time. Going up a size is the single most effective change available.
Doing it with someone
Two people at one table works better than it sounds, and it is the version people tend to repeat. Give everyone their own canvas rather than sharing, choose the same design so there is something to compare, and expect the conversation to be the point rather than the painting.
Ledgebay is veteran-owned. Say hello if you want to. We read the messages.
Common questions
Which kit should a complete beginner start with?
A framed 16 by 20 with a moderate color count and no faces. The larger canvas means larger sections, which is the most effective single thing you can change in your favor.
Do I need an easel?
No. Framed kits include a small tabletop one and a table works fine. Working flat is harder on the neck over a long session, which is the only real argument for using one.
Can I varnish it when I am finished?
Yes, with a clear acrylic varnish, once it has cured for several days. A satin finish evens out the patchy sheen you get from mixing thick and thin passes. Test on a corner first.
How should I clean the brushes?
Lukewarm water and a mild soap, reshape the bristles with your fingers, lay flat to dry. Never let acrylic dry in the base of the hair, up inside the metal ferrule where you cannot see it. That is what actually kills a brush.
