painterly pumpkins

it's been over 110 degrees where i live this past week. WAY over. ugh. 

this does NOT feel like fall, my friends. not. one. bit.

so, i've been hiding in my air conditioned studio to escape the heat.

i was tidying my studio and went to toss something away, 

when suddenly a flash of inspo hit... and these colorful pumpkins are the result. 

cute? yes! painterly? yes! made of trash? yes!!

[also: completely unplanned!!!] 

continue reading to see what i repurposed to make them!

when i am painting a small project and don't need a large quantity of paint,
my paint palette is a plastic disposable plate.

i like them because unlike paper plates, the wet paint doesn't lift the paper fibers...
so the paint brush doesn't get clogged with them.
i find mixing colors much easier on the slick plastic surface, too.

i generally keep warm tones on one plate, neutrals on another, cool tones on another.
and when the project is done and the paint dries, the palette looks pretty!
i reuse them for a long time - until the paint is too thick for me to blend over.

the other day, as i was about to throw some away, 

i looked at one covered with warm orange tones and realized it could be a pumpkin!

so, in the same way that i embellished flat scrap paper to create 'dimensional'-look pumpkins,

i used black pencil lines to add detail right over the dried paint.

then, i cut out stem shapes from some of my green painted paint chip paper,
making note of how the lines on the plate were spaced so the stem would 'fit' them,

and glued them onto the plates.

[ i like the contrast of the combination of these two forms of painted objects - 
the curvy freeform palette paint blobs with the squares and lines on the paint chip paper ]

for a larger version, i grabbed an old large plastic charger plate!
i spray painted it orange. then painted splotches of various colored paints like a paint palette, added the black pencil lines, then decided on a different kind of 'stem':

yep, that's a paint brush! 

i swiped a wash of green paint over the wood handle and hot-glued the metal to the charger.

the hole in the handle allows a length of ribbon to be inserted to hang the pumpkin -
i think it would be DARLING as a wreath on a front door
with a warm autumn greeting hand-lettered onto it:

[ if hand-lettering isn't your jam, simply use stickers! ]

while photographing this project, the thought came to me
that it would be cute to paint ceramic pumpkins with this 'splotchy' painterly paint treatment
to add to this display (a small one peeking out of the tipped bucket, perhaps),

 so i may just try that out soon...

edited to add: i did it, and i LIKE it! 

i also have another kind of painted pumpkin that is 'related' to these in mind...
stay tuned!

links to previous posts mentioned above:

scrap paper pumpkins wall art

painted paint chip tutorial & wall art

three ideas for upcycled paint palettes

shared online:

funky junk interiors | diy salvaged junk projects #543

thank you for featuring my project, Miss Donna!

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