Mountain sunset diamond painting pattern

About this design

This landscape is built in simple horizontal layers, the way a sunset looks when you squint at it. The sky runs from DMC 3807 Cornflower Blue at the top through 3608 Plum Very Light and 3341 Apricot to 3854 Autumn Gold Medium on the horizon, where a pale sun of 745 Yellow Pale Light sits just above the hills. Two ranges of mountains overlap: a lighter back range in 535 Ash Gray Very Light and 3768 Gray Green Dark, and a dark front range in 3799 Pewter Gray Very Dark. Below them a lake of 3810 Turquoise Dark carries a broken reflection of the sun.

How to work it

The 4,800 drills are mostly large single-colour bands, which makes this a relaxing picture and a good step up from a first kit. Work from the top down: the sky bands are straight, so fill them row by row and enjoy the rhythm. Take more care on the mountain ridges, where the colour changes follow a stepped line; place the outline of each ridge first, then fill below it. The reflection in the lake is a stack of short gold bars separated by single rows of water, so count those carefully to keep the shimmer even.

Size and display

With 2.5 mm square drills the picture is 80 × 60 drills, about 20 × 15 cm, which sits well in a 10 × 8 inch frame with a mount. A slim wooden frame suits the calm palette, and the piece pairs well with a print or photograph of real mountains on a gallery wall.

Colour plan

DMC 3854 Autumn Gold Med does the most work, 16% of the 4,800 drills, followed by DMC 3810 Turquoise Dark at 14%. Every colour is used at least 106 times, so there are no tiny one-off details to hunt for. Every square of the grid is filled.

Working notes

No square stands alone in its colour, so every colour works up in solid blocks. The busiest row changes colour 8 times.