Pumpkin Painting
Being print lovers here at CG we decided that we wanted to celebrate Halloween by painting our pumpkins rather than carving them. Not only does it save the hard work of scooping out the inners, but means we can get really creative with them and give them a modern twist! Plus, the un-carved pumpkin should last longer.
We’ve put together any easy ‘how to’ guide for painting a pumpkin and some handy tips and tricks we’ve learnt along the way.
First, obviously you need a pumpkin! We picked up a range of sizes and some different shaped and coloured squashes so there would be some variation in sizes when they’re all sat together. If possible pick a pumpkin that’s smooth so it’s a good surface to work on. You can give it a quick wipe before painting, but make sure it is completely dry before you start work.
We already had a plan of what we wanted our pumpkin patch to look like so we started by painting a base coat of cream ready for the design. We used acrylic paint for this but you could also use spray paint. Our pumpkins needed two coats to get a good colour, which allowed ample time for a tea break.
Next was to start the design. We decided to replicate our monochrome mini heart print and leopard print. We drew the heart print on in pencil but for the leopard we just painted freehand as it’s a much more organic design that doesn’t have to be perfect. Again, we used acrylic paint for this with a smaller paintbrush. Depending on what design you have in mind for your pumpkin you could either go for it and paint straight onto the pumpkin or create little paper stencils to draw around or spray paint over.
To make the leopard print extra special we added gold paint detail. If your pumpkin base is a light colour you can always add smaller details using marker pens.
All that’s left to do now is shoot an instagram worthy picture to show off your hard work and find the perfect place to put you pumpkins so they can be admired from all angles.
Top Tips...
The smaller the pumpkin… the quicker it is to paint!
Pick a colour palette and keep it simple – especially if you’re doing more than one pumpkin, it can help them work nicely together.
If you want sharp edges or want to do colour blocking try using masking tape to help get a sharp line.
Don’t over complicate your design. The shape of a pumpkin can make it tricky so keep it simple.
If it all goes wrong or you don’t like what you’ve created you can always paint over it and start again!
We love this painted pumpkin trend and although it might not be the scariest thing you’ll see this Halloween we love how creative you can get with it. You could make yours typographic, an intricate pattern, bold colours, add glitter – whatever you want. It’s also a great knife free way of doing it with children! Check out our Halloween pinterest board full of pumpkin painting ideas and be sure to tag us on instagram and use #lovecg if you create your own so we can see your designs and share them in our story!
