Two Stacked Pumpkins

Welcome to Pumpkin Central where two stacked pumpkins are a sign of a happy home. Right? No? Well, maybe not everyone is as absolutely nutsoid and crazy about pumpkins as I am. (Mr Studly, by the way, completely agrees with the previous statement ;-D). But before I get too far ahead of myself, please let’s remember what this blog and post are all about. OK?

Favorite Things

In early 2020, I pledged to paint a painting each week and blog about it. The name of this weekly series of paintings is Favorite Things. Why? Well, because I choose objects, typically food, that I love to eat. But, I paint it first and then, if it’s still edible, I’ll eat it! This means each week I write about a painting and the process. You are welcome to follow along as I share the ups and downs of this studio and painting life I lead. To do so, simply sign up here. You’ll receive a lively and colorful blog post each week and get a first look at my latest painting or drawing. Sometimes I’ll share a painting by a contemporary artist or an artist in history, too. Let’s move onward to this week’s painting, shall we?

Medium

First, I need to come clean and say that this painting and the rest of the paintings here this week are all painted in gouache. I started playing in gouache on a daily basis a few weeks ago. Here’s the first post where I describe what I like about this medium.

But I also continue to paint in oils. And, what I am loving about both of these mediums together is time. I am spending more time on my oil paintings then if I were to share one with you each week. This week’s oil painting was nearly ready. But I love having the flexibility and freedom to let it sit. And, if necessary spend more time on it. Oil paint is such a luscious medium that evokes, to me, a more formal and hopefully, elegant, feeling than gouache. And, this is just my experience. Don’t get me wrong, there are some amazing gouache paintings that are elegant! They just aren’t mine and that’s OK with me.

Three Stacked Pumpkins

Here’s another gouache I did this week. This time I stacked three pumpkins. I did this painting after having painted the white and orange pumpkins individually. First, though, the stacked painting.

I am pretty sure I dreamt about this painting before I painted it. Why? We watched the movie “Loving Vincent” this past weekend. What a wonderful, colorful, sad, dreamy and beautiful movie about Vincent Van Gogh. Do watch it if you haven’t had the chance. The story is sad. But, seeing all the animation and color certainly fueled my dreams and my pumpkin paintings this week.

White or Orange

If you had to choose between a white or an orange pumpkin, which would you select? I confess that I am very partial to orange. But I thoroughly enjoyed painting the gazillions of colors that were in the white pumpkin here.

Here’s the orange pumpkin in a painting all by itself. As I painted it, I was trying to remember all the reasons why I have come to love and paint pumpkins. First, I remember doing a color study of a pumpkin at school a few years ago. One of my teacher‘s asked me a wonderful question that I still remember to this day. She asked “How did I decide to paint the pumpkin the way I was painting it.” I love this type of question because it made me focus on the process I was doing. This may seem strange to you. But if that same teacher had said, Why are you painting your painting that way, I would feel compelled to justify what I was doing rather than analyze what I was doing.

When I described how I painted the pumpkin (lobe by lobe), she actually helped me to see that I was painting the pumpkin shape and its lobes in a piecemeal and too complicated way. She said imagine snow is falling on the pumpkin and paint the biggest, simplest form that way first. Wow! And, once I had the overall shape, I could spend time on the lobes, etc. I still revisit this big shape first ‘thinking’ with each painting. Isn’t it amazing how these pearls of wisdom from years ago can stay in your mind and help so much?

Pear and Pumpkin

I still can’t get over how gorgeous the red Starkrimson pears are! Good grief I think I could paint one every single day. So, of course I had to pair this pear with the little orange pumpkin. They seem to be leaning against each other and showing us that they are pretty darn good friends don’t you think? Here’s that gouache painting.

More Pumpkins

You may be wondering if there are more pumpkins for you to see today? Well, these five paintings are all I will share with you for now. I hope you enjoyed them. How about you? Are you as crazy about pumpkins as I am? It’s OK you can share all your pumpkin cravings (or dislikes too) here if you’d like. Thank you for reading here and have a delightful pumpkin-filled day!