A Million Different Shades of A Million Different Colors

Hand made items are luxuries that many do not appreciate anymore. But for the ones that do they are able to enjoy knowing that they have something that nobody else has.

Diamond art, or painting, has been around a long time now but only in recent years has it become a worldwide sensation. My mom introduced me to it three years ago now. At the time I had just been diagnosed with anxiety and depression, we were doing research on things that would be able to help me naturally instead of starting on medications right away, while my mom was looking at different tips online for me, she came across a website with information about this type of artistry. She discovered that it is a calming activity that has been proven to help people with lower levels of anxiety, like what I have, we thought that we could give it a shot. And like mothers usually are she was right.

I have enjoyed the serenity and excitement of putting the tiny diamonds into their proper places so much so that whenever I get some free time on my days off, I will look on the internet at all the different and beautiful pictures that are now available to buy. Everyday more are created to try and help keep up with the ever-growing demand of orders.

Every time that I work on new projects one of my favorite things to do at the end of them is putting all the extra diamonds into jars and watching as all the millions of different shades of a million different colors mix to create their own beautiful masterpiece. It helps to remind me that even though one color might be a single shade that millions recognize it by it is not as simple as it seems.

Looking at a picture of a rose for example, when I look at the final picture, I realize that even in real life looking at a rose it is not simply one shade of a color. It may look it under the shady lights at a supermarket but sometimes their can be shades of fuchsia and cherry; scarlet and rouge; and sometimes theirs even hints and pops of magenta or garnet in them to help the viewer see the full picture.

It is such a simple activity but the pictures that it brings to life astound me every time, as well as others when I give them one of my finished projects as gifts. They ask many questions and look at the picture given to them in awe of what it is and how much time and energy that I have put into making something special for them that I know they will appreciate.

Diamond art has been a saving grace to me in many ways. It helps to remind me that even though something might now look good at first that if I take a step back, or a break from working on it, and look at the entire project from a different angle I find that once I get the chance to add the other colors they will mix together as they are supposed to and the true beauty of the picture will come out.

This beautiful hobby has been one of the few things that brings me both true happiness and a feeling of grounding on days when my anxiety and depression are tearing me apart in different directions.

The amount of time and dedication that I put into each piece varies on the size of the picture. For some of the smaller ones I am normally able to sit at my kitchen table, lost in my own world, for a couple of hours while my body goes on auto pilot as it places each tiny colorful diamond in the spot that it is supposed to go in. But when I get into some of the larger ones, that might take up an entire wall for instance, I will spend entire days off between workdays and focus on one section of the picture at a time until I have completed the project.

When I get the chance to work on one of the larger pictures I like to try and keep my work area clean and organized, both for the fact that it helps to keep my klutziness under control but also so that I feel in control of my situation and environment.

Being able to stay in control of my environment and where the diamonds are supposed to go gives me a sense of power in ways that I would normally feel useless. It is the power of knowing that I am the only one in control of what is happening to this picture, so if I make a mistake then I’m the only one to blame. It happens often enough with some of the symbols being similar on both the picture and the direction sheet, like the letter’s ‘V’ and ‘Y’ and the colors being in different shades of the same color such as two different shades of gray that look identical at first but only when I separate them do I realize the mistake that I’m making with one being a lightly darker shade then the other.

Even though I make the mistake often enough the result of the picture still turns out to how it is supposed to be. It is like daily life in the same way that nobody will notice the little mistakes that one will make but they will notice the larger issues that one has tried to hide within plain sight.

I have been told many times over the years that art is a representation of life in many ways. I thought that those people were crazy until I started getting into different kinds of arts myself and realized that those crazy people might not be so crazy after all. Art really is an imitation of life depending on the artists view and the onlookers who have half the knowledge of the piece as it is being created.

Diamond art is a beautiful example of this and I have been truly blessed to be able to continue putting together exquisite photos and showing them off to friends and family once the pieces are complete.