paint-by-numbers

I remember my dad painting these ballerina pictures at the dining room table when we lived in Wooster, Ohio. They were the most beautiful pieces of art this first grade girl had ever seen and they hung on my bedroom wall. Me as a first grade girl was 63 years ago.

Paint-by-number kits were hugely popular in the 1950s and 1960s. This was an  approachable form of art and the pictures were designed for the masses so that anyone could paint them. Each color was assigned a spot to create the composition. No real skill was required although it did call for a steady hand to keep the lines neat. My dad got his paints out after all of us kids had gone to bed. We were 6, 4, 2, and 1...too much commotion to keep a steady hand...and this was his way of unwinding after a day of work and dad duties.

Fast forward to 2015. My mom had been in assisted care for a year (Dad died in 2002). It was time to sell Mom's house. We came across the paint-by-numbers. My sister took the Arc de Triomphe, one of my brothers took a clown picture, and I didn't have the heart to send the ballerina trio to a thrift shop. I've kept these pictures for 10 years now. Ten years and they've just been sitting in storage rooms. I've asked my daughter-in-law if she would be interested in them for her little daughter's room. I don't know - she has very specific ideas on the look she wants for Hallie's room. If she doesn't want them, I will keep them just for a little while longer to see if my daughter and son-in-law will have another baby and if they have a daughter, maybe these pictures will find a place in their home. 

There are just some ties to the past that are hard to let go.