Tutorial Thursday: Textured Pumpkin

Hey...Hope everyone is having a great week.  My thoughts are with my friends who are causing GREAT PAIN to their checking accounts as they shop at HOOT! 

You know, you can NEVER have enough patterns or surfaces!

I also think of all the screams of delights as people get to meet each other in person.

Hugs are being thrown around like glitter.

Laughter is filling the hall.

Inspiration is wafting through the air.

Friendships are being made and renewed.

Words of encouragement are being offered.

Beautiful COLORS are everywhere.

AWESOME SAUCE!

I pray traveling mercies...

BUT, most of us are HERE, well, not here, but THERE, because it is just me and Charcoal here, doing what we always do and living vicariously through the photos we get to see on this wonderful thing called SOCIAL MEDIA!

I thought I would share what I did with the background I created on Tuesday.

For those who missed it, it is the post before this one, so you can read it to catch up.

Once again, I pulled out my favorite DecoArt Americana Acrylics

I traced the outline of the tag and the Pumpkin 

that I decided to Put on this surface.

I based the Pumpkin with 2 coats of Canyon Orange.

Honestly, one coat would have been fine and more of the background would have shown through, but I decided to use 2 coats...

Let the paint dry completely before going to the next step.

 

When I got the pumpkin basecoated, I have to admit that I was sad to have covered so much of my background, and then....a BRIGHT LIGHT BULB appeared over my head!

I will add the same technique to the pumpkin that I used on the background.

Some days, I really think I am Albert Einstein...

 

Most days, I wonder where my glasses are that are on top of my head... 

This time, I decided to thin my paint instead of putting the water on the surface as I did for the background.  

One reason for this, was because I wanted the color to be stronger.

If you do this, you REALLY have to work quickly or the paint with dry.  Being Wet is what causes the Plastic Wrap to LIFT the paint.  Once the paint is dry, it won't lift off.

I used Tangerine and some Sunny Day placed where I thought

 natural highlights would occur.

Do not work your paint into a smooth basecoat.  

Leave the lines choppy to add some more texture.

Again, work quickly before your paint dries.

Place the plastic wrap over the surface and gently push it down 

to get contact with the paint and then carefully 

remove the plastic wrap while the paint is still wet.

When I removed the plastic wrap, I decided to put the plastic wrap on it again, because I wanted more texture...

The second time was the charm!

Isn't that the coolest thing?

The stem and tag were painted with Honey Brown.

I wanted the tag to look old, so I had the bright idea to do a modification of the same background technique.

I painted the tag with thinned Camel and bunched the plastic wrap into a wad and dabbed the paint to remove most of it...

Sorry, I didn't take a picture of that, 

but you can see it in the finished picture.

For those who paint, quickly this is what I did to complete the design.
Shade the Pumpkin, right stem and tag with Burnt Umber
Highlight the Left of the stem with Camel.
Paint the Circle of the tag with Camel.
The inside circle of the tag is Burnt Umber.
Shade around the outside of the circle with Burnt Umber and also the bottom INSIDE of the circle.
Highlight the top INSIDE of the circle with Sunny Day.
The lettering and lines inside the tag are Lamp Black.
Paint the string of the tag with Honey Brown.
Add a highlight to the string with Camel~~simply thin the paint and line.
Finish the string with an outline of thinned Lamp Black to help it show better.

I would have stopped here, but since I already put 

Happy Halloween on my tag, I went a step further...

I absolutely LOVE this just as it is!!

If I had simply put 

HAPPY FALL

on the tag, I would have called this DONE.

That texture is yummy!!

Now, for those who do not paint, it is never too late to begin to paint.  I have shared LOTS of free line drawings on my blog that are a great place to start.

If you want to paint this, but don't understand (yet) how to float paint, then paint it and outline the piece with a permanent black marker (like a Sharpie).  It will look adorable.

BUT just because you do not paint, does not mean that you cannot take advantage of this free line drawing.

If you stitch, this would be so cute made into little pillows to be used as bowl fillers, or add a piece of jute or ribbon to the pillows to hang on a door knob, a peg, or a drawer pull.  OR hang them on the chairs of a Fall gathering and give them to your guests as a reminder of a time well spent.

IF you like paper crafts, use scrapbook paper to make this!

OR, what I think would be adorable, is to make a set of these on 2x4s cut into different heights (I would say, 4, 5, 6 inches tall) and use them on your Thanksgiving table as Place markers!  You could either paint the pumpkins or use paper to Decou-Page them onto the wood...Just think how amazing it would be for a family of 3 to have one of each size to use for years to come as decorations and as a reminder of a fun meal with those you love!  You could add Names to the tags, or put a special message on them.

Be creative...Use this to fit YOUR style...

Right click on your computer to save this and by all means, resize it to fit YOUR needs...have fun with it!

This is how I decided to finish my design...What fun is this!!

I am not sure why this is blurred , but click it and it is fine...weird, huh!

I hope that I have nudged you a bit to create!  I cannot tell you how important it is to do something for YOU.  

When you feel fulfilled, then you are able to give even more of yourself...funny how life is like that!  

I am simply blessed to create~charlotte♡