Dan Robbins with a paint-by-numbers self-portrait
Posted on 04/09/2019 1:19:45 PM PDT by csvset
Dan Robbins, the artist behind the paint-by-numbers craze that swept America, has died in Sylvania, Ohio, at the age of 93, his son told the AP news agency.
He was working at a paint products firm in the 1940s when he invented the kits.
By the 1950s millions were being sold across the US every year.
His inspiration for the idea came from Leonardo da Vinci, who used a similar method when teaching his apprentices how to paint.
Mr Robbins first joined Palmer Paint, a company selling children's paint sets, after serving in World War Two.
Dan Robbins with a paint-by-numbers self-portrait
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Huh. Sylvania, one of the more fortunate suburbs of Toledo.
RIP.
Seriously, you can’t make thus stuff up.
His legacy lives on!
I really enjoyed these, as a kid. Now we have apps that will create a painting from a photo. Times have certainly changed.
We used to get a lot of these as gifts when I was very young in the ‘60s. My mother’s rule was we could paint anything we would like with them, except the outlined subject provided
— so as to encourage our own creativity.
Rest in Peace.
Thanks for sharing the story, csvset.
Times have certainly changed.
Have an older astrologist friend, she bemoans that in the old days you got out the star books and did a reading based on the birthday, time and location, it would take a few hours but you would slowly see the “personality” of the people coming into focus. Now she says there is software and you get the same results but it takes 30 seconds and there is no joy in it.
I think that is what is so missing in our society, there is so little craft-work or hobbies anymore to give simple happiness.
When my Daughter was around 4, I bought her a “paint with water”, coloring book. She loved it but actually has no drawing or painting talent at all.
Interestingly, both her Son and Daughter are extremely talented. My Grandson can draw pictures which one can easily mistake for a photograph.
Yeah, they just don’t teach STEM like they did in the old days, do they?
No, they don’t. I got my start with these...from third thru 12 grade. Loved seeing those blue and yellow boxes come in the mail.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Things_of_Science
Today you can paint by numbers using a computer monitor and a mouse . . . I don’t really think it is the same thing.
RIP.
According to Pythagoras, “All things are numbers.”
According to Pythagoras, “All things are numbers.”
36 24 36
That “Things of Science” kit sounds wonderful! I wonder why I never heard of that as a kid. I bought all sorts of things like that, my Dad gave me wonderful toys and tools like that (Erector set, chemistry sets), helped me build crystal radios using cat’s whisker detectors he got at work (I remember 100 foot copper wire antennas across the back yard). One of my all-time favorites was building the “Visible V8” engine kit.
I’ve been automating my home the past several years and find that there aren’t always the sensors or systems available to do what I want, so I’ve been teaching myself Arduino and circuit design to fill in gaps. It’s like the electronics kits from the 50s and 60s on steroids these days! I still get a lot of fun out of building things like that.
Good man, great invention. RIP. Prayers for his soul up.
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