Colorful Tree of Life Diamond Painting Kit

Sometimes a calming palette is the last thing you want. You have had a beige week. This is the tree of life in every color at once, and it apologizes for none of them.

The trunk splits into swirling branches that curl back on themselves, and the leaves scatter outward in magenta, teal, gold and violet like something caught mid-throw. The backdrop glows soft and pale behind it, the only quiet part of the canvas and the reason the rest reads as color rather than noise. Up close it is a kaleidoscope of jewel tones, one packet bleeding into the next. From across the room it resolves into a single shape, unmistakably a tree.

Twenty-eight DMC colors from 154 to 3846 covers deep plum through bright gold, and it is why the swirls have direction. Each branch moves through three or four related shades as it curls, so the movement is built into the color placement instead of being left to the drawing.

The details

• 90 x 50 cm (36 x 20 in)
• Full coverage, round drills
• 28 DMC colors, DMC 154 to DMC 3846
• Adhesive canvas with printed symbols and color legend
• Sealed, numbered, DMC color-coded drill packets
• Stylus pen, grooved tray, wax refill and tweezers included

Straight talk

Roughly 45 to 55 hours at this size. An abstract color layout gives you far less single-color background than a landscape does, so there is little coasting here: you will switch packets often, and a sorting tray earns its keep. Round drills, full coverage, canvas rolled in the tube and blank when it arrives. No frame included, and at 90cm wide a frame is worth pricing before you start.

The beige week ends. The tree stays up.