Sunday, September 9, 2012

Painting Pumpkins

I was tickled that I was able to find a print 
to match the cherry motif I had in the kitchen this summer.



I wanted a pumpkin painting but  I didn't really think I would be able to run up to the thrift store and find one.
Rebekah did a series of apples for me  a few years ago but I hated to ask her to do some more paintings.






I had some success painting these cherries with watercolors 
this past spring. Since the cherries were easy and I have drawn pumpkin patterns for my class, I didn't think it would be too difficult to draw a something on a canvas for me to paint. 

I surfed ebay for inspiration. 
I love anything that has a sort of Dutch Master feel .
I am wild about dark moody backgrounds with flowers or fruit. That is what I was going for. 
I didn't want to copy the work that I found on ebay 
but I used it for a springboard toward creating my own.


I did some thrift store shopping a few weeks ago and found a framed canvas for three dollars.

  
                    

The black frame would be perfect with a pumpkin so I painted over it.

I got an inexpensive set of acrylic paints at Hobby Lobby.



 I am a novice in the paint department and didn't want to spend a lot for a set of oils.
 This set was $14.99.  
Well worth it for an experiment.

 I used black and two browns to get  a murky effect.
After that dried for several hours, I sketched an outline with some chalk.




 I painted the pumpkin, stem and curlicues and let that dry.
Finally, I went in with the highlights and leaves.




Even though this is a naive, primitive painting. The highlights are important. I  checked out the pumpkin paintings on ebay again to get the details as realistic as I  could.
.
   I will enjoy displaying this somewhere with my collection of fall stuff.



Simple and cute. 
It will bring another dimension to one of my autumn displays. 
I am still tweaking some projects before I begin to decorate for the season.




  
The sunflower came from Hobby Lobby.




It really was not hard and I encourage you to give it a try.

 I am already thinking about a gingerbread man for Christmas.
Sprinkled with a pumpkin painting,
Katie 
Linking with,




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