Tuesday, September 29, 2015

Pumpkin inspired art

My husband came home from the farmer's market on Saturday with four cute little pumpkins.I liked the way these three sat up on the front porch bench with the praying mantis sculpture behind them so I took a picture.
There is something about the color first... shades of orange against the brown bench, the pop of lime green tree behind it creating depth, the hard lines of the wooden bench against the roundness of the pumpkins. The crescent shaped lines on the pumpkins repeat the curves themselves. The stems even curve with strong lines created with shadow.
See?
Art in the simple every day life, that's what excites me.
I got out my oil pastels, texture "rubbings" plates, some plain muslin, my foamcore as a palette, and went to the porch where I see this vista...
I can see this from the kitchen window too.
and this...

I love a full round container of mums this time of year!
And got busy...
First I sketched out pumpkin shapes to fill the fabric, probably a fat quarter. Just the pumpkins, I'll worry about the filler later.

Chanel your inner 5 year old.
Yellow first, as it's the glow or highlight and lightest color.


then I placed the web rubbing plate under the first pumpkin and went over the top with orange and red pastels. I tried a different plate under each pumpkin.

Blending the orange, creating more color by going over it again, then going over with brick red and blending. Some green and purple mooshed in.






I used the plates to rub in some green, a spider web, the sky...overlapping the colors to blend.
And used this plate to draw on the letters. It needs to cure for about 24 hours, then be ironed with a hot iron and pressing sheet of fabric. Then it's ready to quilt and finish.

It's so pretty in person... come see!
I kind of cut off the leaves done along the bottom but you get the picture. I think it will look great with lots of threads and a strong black binding to frame it. I wonder if you think it looks too simple or child like???

The thing is, I had fun making it. It's from my heart and hands, I'm using my art supplies, and it'll be pretty.
What more can you ask of an hour? That's how long this took. Hope you are inspired by the fall colors to try some drawing and or painting.

19 comments:

sonja said...

i can almost hear some pumpkin carols!
Such fun shapes and fab colors equal a great way to spend your hour, life!

Maria said...

Love it! Quick. Simple. Well done!

Magpie Sue said...

It certainly doesn't look like you made that panel in only an hour. I think it's wonderful folk art. :- )

Farm Quilter said...

What fun - looks like the perfect art project to do with my oldest granddaughter!! She is so creative and would love this!!! Perfect for the season and I'm looking forward to seeing the final piece of art after quilting and binding!

Amy Art Quilter & Fyber Cafe said...

I love the pumpkin with the web texture, and it looks a little childish, but that's the fun of it. Being free and letting your inner child out to play! I have trouble doing that, you are much freer with your fabrics and colors than I am. Besides the thread painting will make it quilterly

Joanne said...

Looks great LeeAnna!
And with all your creative threads and a black binding it really will be so magically Autumnal! Autumn....what a great range of colours and shapes!
Take care,
Joanne

Joanne said...

Looks great LeeAnna!
And with all your creative threads and a black binding it really will be so magically Autumnal! Autumn....what a great range of colours and shapes!
Take care,
Joanne

easyweimaraner said...

it's great... and it's fabulous to welcome fall :o) your pumpkins are great too, wish we had better ones this year in our stores, definitely no carving material by now :o(

Deb @ Frugal Little Bungalow said...

I love it ! It jumped out at me at the link party..perfect for fall !

gayle said...

It doesn't look simple to me - there's a lot going on in those pumpkins! 8)
Art that's fun is a double bonus, isn't it?

andrea @ tideline quilts said...

How much fun is this? I lovew it!

Linda in Calif. said...

Great design - I was really drawn to it. Makes me want to go have fun too. :-)

Tails Around the Ranch said...

Very cool! Ahhh, October...my favorite color. ;)

ClotheslineCottons said...

I just love pumpkins, and I've never seen anyone do something like this before. It's great!

Unknown said...

So cute! And like you said, with the black binding to frame it, it'll really pop!

Anonymous said...

Beautiful! Wow!

Julie's Lifestyle said...

You made such a pretty Fall picture! I love those pumpkins.

Deb said...

Autumn is my favorite color, your Fall piece came out lovely, I love how you added the texture, the pumpkin picture reminds me of all those Primitive decorations that seem to creep up everywhere.

Julie said...

It's fun to do something different once in a while. Good idea! I really like the idea of coloring over your template. Makes me think of other things to use that for now.

Julie