[imagesource:flickr]

Always wanted a Pierneef, but don’t want to wait until your grandma shuffles off the mortal coil before inheriting her art? A South African startup has now taken ‘paint-by-numbers’ to the next, and nearly forging, level.

Paint By Numbers is the brainchild of Wineen Swart, who after receiving a ‘paint-by-numbers’ of a frog from her husband, struggled to find any more good quality local equivalents.

“I have always been interested in art, but I am no artist, and I found it a bit daunting to go buy a canvas and paint and everything you need to try to paint.”

Just in time for lockdown, Swart managed to find a local supplier who could create design for her based on South African art, as well as a nod to some foreign masters as well.

“During lockdown, it was tricky to increase order quantities and manage stock levels, but we managed. To grow, I had to invest in larger quantities, and I had to create my own brand to set me apart from similar products that started coming into our market once I launched my product,”

Her products includes stretched, rather than loose, canvases, and includes paints and brushes as well as a simple wall mounting kit to display your ‘forged’ art.

According to Business Insider, Swart initially chose 25 designs based on the art that she loved, including Monet, Van Gogh and Matisse, but the popularity allowed her to incorporate designs from great local artists such as Pierneef.

Pierneef’s “Farm Jonkershoek with Twin Peaks Beyond, Stellenbosch”, painted in 1928, is one of South Africa’s most expensive artworks ever sold at auction for over R20 million – but it is available in a complete paint-by-numbers kit on stretched canvas for under R400.

Copyright infringement is not a problem as art is protected for the duration of an artists life, as well as fifty years thereafter. In the case of Pierneef and Stern, who died in 1957 and 1966 respectively, the work can legally be copied.

Paint by numbers has been a favourite way of introducing children to art for a long time, and recently more adults have become enamoured with it. The Covid lockdown also saw a huge spike in sales of adult colouring books and DIY art projects, which explains the popularity of these ‘forgeries’.

“I find the act of painting quite therapeutic, and as some artists who buy from me have said, sometimes it is nice not to have to think about what to paint, but rather just to sit and paint,”

So, if you think your living room needs a bit of Van Gogh, you can check out her website here.

All I’m wondering is how long it will take grandma to notice I swopped her Pierneef for a paint-by-numbers replica.

[source:businessinsider]