November 26, 2008

Every Man a Rembrandt


While I was sitting here painting my invites, I was telling Evelyn about my love of paint by number when I was a kid. As I was explaining, I looked this up. It's a pretty amazing story. Taken from the web site:
The making of the fad is attributed to Max S. Klein, owner of the Palmer Paint Company of Detroit, Michigan, and to artist Dan Robbins, who conceived the idea and created many of the initial paintings. Palmer Paint began distributing paint-by-number kits under the Craft Master label in 1951. By 1954, Palmer had sold some twelve million kits. Popular subjects ranged from landscapes, seascapes, and pets to Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper. Paint-kit box tops proclaimed, "Every man a Rembrandt!"
As far as I know I'm not related to Mr. Klein, but you never know, do you?
I've also been a great fan of geological survey maps ever since I can remember, and upon looking at illustration above I can see why I loved paint by number.

Maybe you like paint by number too?