EX

CLUSIVE

SMASHINGPUMPKINS

by Leslie Smith

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Palette:

DECOART AMERICANADriftwood #13171Burnt Sienna #13063Jack O Lantern #13229Moon Yellow #13007Plum Suede #13309Burnt Umber #13064Oxblood #13139Soft Black #13155Snow White #13001Avocado #13052Margarita #13541Optional: Whispering Turquoise #13537 and Brilliant Purple #13289

Surface:Key/Memo#Boards #63205

Brushes

PAPILLION FROM THE ARTIST'S CLUB1” fl at for basecoating

Round #4 20161

Shader # 10 20135

Miscellaneous Supplies:DecoArt All Purpose SealerDecoArt American Sot Touch Varnish Item no. 72013Fine grit sandpaper Transfer paper, stylus, etc.Standard painting supplies (palette, water container, etc.)Embellishments - optional - Wooden mallet like those used to tenderize meat or open the shells of seafoodDecoArt’s Blackboard paint #13509

Cork board #80156, pushpins or thumb tacks, plastic fl ies (available at many novelty stores at Halloween)

TECHNIQUE AND THEORY:The light source is from the right. It fl oods onto and into our smashed pumpkin, illuminating the broken cavern. The bright white light creates a shading on our pumpkin, causing the pumpkin and stem to

be darker on the right. It causes the pieces to cast shadows into the cavern. Hues bounce back and forth, and refl ect against the pumpkin’s shiny skin and moist inside fl esh. A single object, broken into pieces, becomes elegant with the use of diff erent hues and values.

PREPARATION:Sand, seal, and sand again - except in the area where the cork will be glued. Remember: always sand in the direction of the wood grain.

Base coat the surface with Driftwood. It may take a second coat. Basecoating the area where the cork or blackboard sits, is optional.

Transfer the outline of the pumpkin and pieces, using your favorite method. From here on, the term, “frame” will refer to the edged frame formed around the cork/blackboard, the lower shelf, and the area that holds the pegs. The term, “arch” will refer to the area above the frame on which we will be painting our pumpkin.

Don’t forget the pegs (and mallet if you plan to have one).

I keep a supply of the old spring loaded clothes pins to hold things (like these pegs) while I paint them. They make great handles and great little stands.

PAINTING INSTRUCTIONS:Realistic painting is a balancing act. If one area is darkened, other areas probably need to be adjusted. Maybe they need to be darkened again. Or, maybe they need to be lightened.

For that reason, this painting technique involves painting an object or area and then painting another…then, painting again the fi rst object or area… and back and forth. This keeps the paint values balanced. As a bonus, it also results in many thin layers of paint that give a variety of hues, temperatures, and values. The end painting is much more realistic.

The two main colors are Jack O’ Lantern (transpar-ent) and Burnt Sienna (opaque). If you choose to substitute, be sure that your substitute choices are the same in opacity.

Smashing Pumpkinsby Leslie Smith

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Pumpkin Shell - Stage 1Starting at the base of the stem with Jack O’Lantern, use the round brush to create lines of paint that curve along the contour of the pumpkin. Completely cover the outside of the pumpkin in this manner.

Add shorter strokes of Burnt Sienna at the base of the stem; they should radiate outwards. Add strokes of Burnt Sienna to the outside edge and along the grooves of the pumpkin. The Burnt Sienna areas should feather into the previously painted Jack O’ Lantern.

Pumpkin Insides - Stage 1Randomly, fi ll in the broken edges with Moon Yellow in places, if only to be able to fi nd them later. It is a bro-ken edge, so where the yellow lies does not matter.

Switch to the fl at brush and use loose “x” strokes to fi ll the inside of the pumpkin. This is the technique usually used to create mottled backgrounds.

Use Buttermilk starting at the far left and pick up Moon Yellow to the right. While the underlying paint is still wet, shade around the edges with Plum Suede, still patting in patches of paint. If the underlying Buttermilk or Moon Yellow dries, reapply to provide wet-in-wet for the Plum Suede. The Plum Suede is quite heavy along the right inside.

Pumpkin Shell - Stage 2Darken the pumpkin shell with strokes of Oxblood and Burnt Umber near the stem, along the grooves, and on the outer edge where it curves back into the back-ground. Use a light hand and allow these darker strokes to blend into the pumpkin’s orange surface. Did you notice that most of the darker areas on the pumpkin are somewhat triangular in shape? The surface shading is outlined in Figure 3 in white.

Back to the Background - Stage 2There are also triangular areas that are formed in the background by the edges of the pumpkin. Darken them, using the fl at brush and Plum Suede. The easi-est way is to wet the background with Driftwood and then slip-slap Suede Plum into the wet paint near the pumpkin’s edge. Work the Plum Suede outward. Don’t forget the ledge formed by the frame around the insert. See Figure 4.

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When dry, darken the background further using Burnt Umber. The Burnt Umber occupies a smaller area of the background than the Suede Plum, but goes up and onto the pumpkin, making it somewhat hard to see the pumpkins left outline.

When dry, darken again, with Soft Black. The Soft Black occupies an areas of the background smaller than the Burnt Umber and also goes up and onto the pumpkin’s left side. By now, the left lower outline of the pumpkin should be nearly invisible. See Figure 5. .

Pumpkin Edges- Stage 2The edges were earlier painted in some areas with Moon Yellow. In other areas, the Driftwood background still shows. These areas are random in their placement.

Add some areas along the edges with diluted Jack O’Lantern - to the left of where there is a jagged or pointed edge. Paint the edge on the opposite side (right) of the point with Buttermilk. In order to keep the jagged texture of the pumpkin edges, use you fl at brush and paint in patches with the side of the brush. Six suggested areas are marked with an “x.” See Figure 6.

Doing Some Highlights - Stage 3In this stage, we will build several of the fi nal highlights.

Usually, white indicates a smooth surface with a glossy

fi nish. Daylight is usually warm and yellow. Early morn-ing sun or evening light is cool and blueish. Sunsets are spectacular in their colors. But, we are going for a mood, so we will break all the customary rules.

Highlight the fi ve rightmost sections of the outer pumpkin, one at a time. Complete each section before moving onto the next. First, wet the section in the high-light area with Jack O’Lantern. (Use the wet paint as a blending medium.) Highlight within the wet area with scant amounts of Moon Yellow. Highlight within the Moon Yellow with Snow White. The right most section has the brightest highlight.

Create a very faint Moon Yellow highlight on a couple more sections further left (no Snow White).

Highlight some of the broken edges nearest the point-ed areas with Snow White; shade on the opposite side of the point with Plum Suede.

Highlight the inside - far left of the inside of the pump-kin with Snow White. Highlight the background as it peaks out from behind the left side of the pumpkin. See Figure 7.

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The Stem - Finally!The stem isn’t round. It has fl at sides and grooves. We need to keep that texture and shape, by using the round brush to paint lines that start where the stem is cut and go down and onto the pumpkin.

Paint each side of the stem completely before moving onto the next or the top.

Face 1 is painted with Avocado; highlights are Margar-ita. Some of the Margarita is further highlighted with Moon Yellow. There is a fi nal speck highlight of Snow White.

Face 2 is Avocado with Margarita highlights; the high-lights at the right upper edge are further highlighted with a tiny bit of Moon Yellow.

Face 3 is Avocado and Driftwood.

The cut top to the stem is Avocado; the upper left por-tion is highlighted with Margarita and then Moon Yel-low. The lower right portion is shaded with Soft Black. Stipple the top, allowing it to have texture. There’s a wispy thread of stem that wends off to the right.

Don’t forget the stem’s tendrils where it holds onto the pumpkin.

Soft Black is also used to give the stem a shadow and to further darken the pumpkin at the base of the stem. See the fi gures and line drawing for placement. See Figure 8.

The Pizazz and all that Jazz:Technically, the painting is done and you can skip to the section on fi nishing. But, there are always some neat little extras that you can add to make it a “bit

more sophisticated.” These steps are optional and you can do any or all or any combination. To help decide, look at Figures 9, 10, and 11.

If you fi nd any of these steps “daunting,” there is a way to make erasing freshly painted details easier. Let the surface set up to dry and apply one thin coat of DecoArt’s DuraClear Soft Touch. Let that dry. Prepare a bowl of clean, soapy, warm water (just a drop of dish soap) and set it on your painting station with a soft lint-free cloth. Paint. If you don't like what you see, it easily washes away with the soapy water (assuming you move fast enough). Be gentle. Then, rinse off the soapy water and try again.

Pumpkin Flesh:You can wash the inside of the pumpkin with patches of all the colors on your palette. The fl esh is moist and sparkles. The random colors will help the illusion. See Figure 9.

Pumpkin Ribs:We painted the creases on the outside of the pumpkin, but, inside, we are looking at their reverse. They come forward; they start at the stem and end at the opposite bottom of the pumpkin. Sideload the fl at brush with Snow White and paint along a rib (avoid the shadows and shaded areas.) Walk the color outward. Flip the brush over so the paint is now on the opposite side of the brush. Paint down the opposite side of the rib and again walk the paint outward. See Figure 10 and the line drawing.

Cracks:You can accent or give the pumpkin some additional cracks. Use Soft Black to sketch in a crack and darken and/or lighten either side. Play around with the broken edges. Make them lighter or darker in places, depend-ing upon your own taste.

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Refl ected Colors:You can add some unexpected hues; they would be se-lected using color theory. Brilliant Purple and Whisper-ing Turquoise work well on this design. Each was added in a very small quantity. They are along the right side of the pumpkin, stem, and a few other places to add that “wow” factor. See Figure 11

Pumpkin Guts and Juices:Transfer the outlines of the drips and drop only if you must. They are painted so transparently, that transfer lines could be a problem.

Paint the guts sitting on the broken piece and the juice running down onto the frame with a thin coat of Jack O’Lantern. If you lose the look of transparency, paint over the inside of the drop with dilute Driftwood. The outline of the drop and guts are the only areas that are defi nitely orange.

The shadows (for the guts and the drop) are Plum Suede with a bit of Burnt Umber blended into the shadow closest to the drop.

The distance between the shadows and the objects casting them depends upon the distance between the surface on which the shadows are cast and the objects casting them. This is an important concept: it estab-lishes depth.

The highlights are Snow White and only where the juic-es have suffi cient thickness to refl ect light. The sample has only two such highlights. There is a tiny crescent of Margarita and Snow White (50:50) diagonally opposite the highlight.

This is one of those instances when less is more.

Wooden mallet:If you are going to smash pumpkins, you need some-thing with which to smash them. Using the colors from your palette, paint a wooden hammer or mallet. Afi x it to a peg, using cord, or lay it on the shelf.

I chose not to write the project’s name anywhere. I prefer to see if people catch onto the idea that it is “Smashing Pumpkins.” But, you could write in on the frame or mallet.

FINISHING:When you are happy, sign your name.

Apply two or more coats of DecoArt American’s Soft Touch to the painted areas and mallet. Do not varnish the area to be used as blackboard or corkboard. Wait 24 hours.

CAUTION: The cork board and tacks/pins is NOT ad-vised if the board will be used in an area where there are children.

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Plastic fl ies, available at may novelty stores at Halloween, can be glues to the board, hammer, and/or push pins.

THE INSERT:Apply two coats of DecoArt’s Blackboard paint to the insert, following the manufacturer’s directions. After 24 hours, condition with a piece of chalk.

OR

Using a good wood-glue, apply cork to the insert. The length of your thumb tacks or push pins may require that you use more than one layer of cork.

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Pattern at 100%1" x 1"

To ensure yourpattern is at 100%,

this box should measure 1" x 1" when printed.

Copyright 2019 by Leslie Smith and Crafts Group, LLC.All Rights Reserved. #332531

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