Painting a Pumpkin

Basic Creative StepsValerie Ivette Santiago

Step One: Get up and Out

• Drive, don’t walk to your nearest store or orchard.• Pumpkins can be heavy and chances

are it’s cold outside!

Step Two: Pick the Perfect One

• If you’re visiting your local grocery or retail store you’ll find pumpkins outside in place of the flowers and plants that were once there for the summer.

• You may also find smaller ones in the stores floral department.

Step 3: Search for Supplies.

• In my case I only needed paint, paint brushes, and sharpies.

• I recommend trash bags, a sponge and or a cloth, pens or pencils, note book paper and soap.

• Some dance music and a good spirit doesn’t hurt this process either.

Step 4: Find your spot of Creativity

• Before departing in search of your creative spot; make sure you get a receipt for your perfect pumpkin. (I definitely wouldn’t want to go to jail for jacking a pumpkin.)

• As you find your spot of creativity and settle in be sure that your companion understands which pumpkin is theirs. (In this case she picked my pumpkin)

Step 5: Set up your Creative Space• This is where you lay down

trash bags and double check you have all your supplies before the fun begins.

Step 6: Clean and Dry your Pumpkin

• Since my pumpkin was sitting outside I took a second to wipe it down with a sponge and water and dry it; this gets off any dirt and helps keep your painting area nice and smooth verses having an area disrupted with debris.

Step 7: Get those creative juices flowing

• I accepted that I’m no Picasso a long time ago but today I challenged that.• I used a pen and paper to practice drawing then I took it to my real canvas.

Tips• Don’t be hard on yourself, this is supposed to be fun. Once I accepted

that my flower was my own creation, drawing it was seamless.• If you don’t follow your gut and buy a pencil and get stuck with a pen

like I did no worries, wiping your pumpkin with soap and water erases the pen marks. Remember to dry it thoroughly following the cleaning.• If you happen to realize after finalizing your creation that you painted

with watercolors, don’t judge yourself like I did. Laugh and remember to bring your pumpkin inside on cloudy days when there’s potential rain.• Lastly, play some music, have family and friends join in and have a

ball!