Diamond Painting

I am thrilled to be working with Diamond Art Studio UK Ltd as a new licensed artist for their fantastic diamond paintings.

I must confess, when the company first approached me about licensing artwork I wasn’t familiar with diamond painting. A quick Google and YouTube search and I soon discovered diamond painting is a relatively new but hugely popular hobby with fans around the world.

It is a little like painting by numbers, in that you follow a colour sequence for the picture, however, in place of paints you use colourful little diamond-shaped beads (known as ‘drills’) to create the image.

The finished artwork is absolutely stunning with a depth and glow all of its own. It really shimmers and captures the light. Many people frame their final pieces.

Initially there are three exclusive ‘Vicki Davidson’ licensed diamond paintings for enthusiasts to enjoy.

The first one to be released is ‘Caught in the Headlights’ which is from an original oil painting with an abstract background and blocks of vivid colour. The stag’s head and antlers are created with bold, dark brushstrokes which sits well against the contrasting background.

The mixture of colour blocks and variation will make this a really fun challenge and I can’t wait to see images of the finished result. I suspect he may look pretty good in shiny diamonds!

If you fancy trying this one for yourself, he can be purchased here

The second exclusive image that has recently been released (stock due any day now) is one of my early pieces and one of the only florals I have done. ‘Pink Rose’ was created with soft pastels and I have always liked this picture for the pink and grey colour palette and soft edges.

This will be a particularly special diamond painting set as it contains ‘AB’ drills. This stand for Aurora Borealis and means these drills have a pearlescent effect and add a little extra pizzazz!

Personally, I will look forward to working on this one in particular as I really do love the colour pink and it will be wonderful to see all the subtle colour variations used to create this.

There is also a third image licensed and will be revealed by the company very soon, but I won’t spoil any surprises here!

And, due to such a positive response, we are already in the process of signing up two more of my artworks so there will be plenty to choose from.

So, what can you expect if you order a diamond painting set from Diamond Art Studio? Well, firstly you get a beautifully packaged box, with quite a lot of purple! It’s wrapped in brown Kraft paper and tied with a bespoke ribbon which makes it feel rather special – like a birthday treat!

You receive a small tray which is used to hold the drills as you work and a pen-like tool that is used to pick up the drills and apply to the canvas. There is also some wax which you dip the pen in and this enables you to pick up the drills before placing them to the corresponding colour on your picture.

The drills themselves each have a universal code (DMC) and there is also a legend to the side of your canvas so you can easily identify what colour goes where (although you definitely need good eyesight and I would recommend working with a good light too).

The canvas itself is excellent quality and the picture can be seen faintly. There are lots of tiny little squares and each has a symbol that identifies the colour to be placed. The canvas is scalloped around the edges and has the company logo along with artist’s logo and name in the case of licensed artwork.

The process of painting is very straightforward and I soon found it to be extremely relaxing and a lot of fun. It’s not at all difficult; I thought it might be more tricky and fiddly than it was.

I have only worked on a small sample before and it took me a couple of days to complete, taking a couple of hours at a time. The large paintings are going to take a good while to complete and I think it must be very satisfying to finish!

The completed artwork can then be stored, or even framed. They really do look stunning once finished and the sparkly ‘diamonds’ bring such depth and life to the picture.

Please visit the website to find out more about diamond painting, or search YouTube to see some lovely time-lapse videos so you can see more of what’s involved.

I really recommend diamond painting to anyone who enjoys craft-type hobbies and also if you are looking for a calming and relaxing pastime. The kits would also make excellent gifts.

I do think diamond painting should come with a warning though – it is highly addictive!!