¡Día de Los Muertos!
This is Halloween ∞!
It is likely obvious that I love Halloween, but in case it wasn’t… I love me some Halloween. The holiday has always been a source of inspiration for me.
So a little while before October, I had happened upon a photo of someone who had painted an eyeball on a small white pumpkin and placed it in a carve-out orange pumpkin so that it looked like an entire eye!
The kiddo and wife were decidedly creeped out by this and in an effort to appease them, I set out to come up with something even creepier! So I drew this large wider pumpkin painted over as a mouth with fangs and teeth that would have two smaller pumpkins or gourds atop painted as eyeballs. Clearly this would scare them more. It did not. So, for the first time, this pumpkin carving purist (see my portfolio of work here: Carve Diem) was gonna give painting pumpkins a chance.
After a trip to Target, where I happened upon EXACTLY what I was looking for — a “pumpkin paint” kit and paint marker set as well! — I was ready to go! …I also wound up bringing home a “few” other Halloween decorations :)
Kudos to my art teacher sister-in-law who brought over her kids and their pumpkins to paint with us one weekend and some spray paint primer — which was amazingly key. Always trust an art teacher to know. And so…
The pumpkins came out better than I’d hoped! And looked great on our front steps.
And also became the inspiration as well as sidekick to our trunk or treat monster as well.
It should be noted that making the trunk or treat was so quick — using items found in my actual trunk (and some in the garage) — that I decided to bake cupcakes for the Trunk or Treat party too. They were drowning souls made from pushing orange sprinkles into faces on a marshmallow and using a Froot Loop as a lost life preserver.
Squirrels got into some (and just completely absconded with others) of the decorative gourds and painted pumpkins we placed outside — all within the span of 48 hours before and including Halloween. So my pumpkin monster — with the ingenuity of my kiddo — became a cyclops.
And then just this morning (mourning) on the Day of the Dead, it had gone full Oedipus. Fair enough, squirrels should get treats too.
This email will switch to a more regular schedule — planning to post according to a octopi-ish calendar, around eight times a year. That’s about twice a season or once every 6.5 weeks or 45.5 days. Mark your druid wheels :)
Thanks to my subscribers who came along on the journey with me this year! I hope you enjoyed the art I sent your way. I’ve adjusted the paid subscription pricing for the coming year and I’m doing away with the mail portion with the intention on focusing on bigger works and projects — wish me luck! I hope you continue to support my art in whatever way you see fit. Happy Halloween!