Celebrate Fall | Creative Workshop

Do you feel like living the season intensely, gathering your family, celebrating pumpkins, crops, colors? Then get out your brushes or your carving gouges and get started!

Creative Workshop
Original creations and photos : France Quirion

Pumpkin faces on maple sugar pails
These whimsical maple pails will make everyone who sees them smile. Once painted, just bring them out every year!

Material required

All Purpose Sealer (DecoArt Americana)
Jack’O Lantern Orange (Americana)
Burgundy Wine (Americana)
Black (Americana)
Golden Straw (Americana)
Warm White (Americana)
Sea Sponge
Natural Hog Brushes 1” wide or wider (they are sold at low cost in hardware stores or paint centers. They have a long natural wood handle and white bristles).

Procedures
Clean maple pails with vinegar and let dry.

Apply All Purpose Sealer to the maple pails using a cloth. Wet and wring out the cloth and then soak it generously with sealer. Apply it to the pail the same way you would clean your kitchen counter. Let it dry completely (you can use a hair dryer). Cover the entire pail with Jack’O Lantern color. To do this, use a sea sponge, wet it and wring it out well, then take a good amount of Jack’O Lantern, pat it on and cover the whole surface. Let it dry for a few hours.

Draw the eyes, nose and mouth freehand with a pencil. Use the hog bristle brush to apply Black around the eyes, nose and mouth to make them stand out and continue until you have covered the surface of a large face opaquely with Black. Next, brush on the Black so that the demarcation between this color and the orange (the back half of the maple pail remains orange) and the outer contours are smooth and irregular.
Note: Brushing the color means loading the brush and removing color on a towel so that you can do a brushing motion that will apply little paint at a time and allow for fading of the edges, without getting a sharp demarcation.

Use the sea sponge, wet and wring it out thoroughly and gently dab a little Jack’O Lantern over the Black around the openings (eyes, nose, mouth) to create texture and reduce the sharpness of the Black.

Clean the sponge, wring it out thoroughly again and continue by dabbing Burgundy Wine on the bottom half of the openings to create depth. Dry. Clean the sea sponge and now dab some Golden Straw on the top half. Finally, without cleaning the sponge this time, dab a little Warm White at the very top of the mouth, a little in the middle of the eyes and nose to brighten them.

Let dry. Complete your creations by screwing a branch on one of the maple pails. For the others, untie the strands of a jute rope and create disheveled hairstyles. Make a hole in the maple pail to attach the headdresses.

High Fashion Pumpkins
Passionate about sewing and couture? Give a nod to these timeless designs by painting them on your pumpkins!

Materials required
Acrylic colors: White and Black (Americana Black and Warm White)
Fine, round and flat brushes.

Freehand drawing of stripes, large polka dots, diamonds, straight stiches and zigzag with a pencil.
Use the appropriate size brushes and paint the designs with White or Black on the pumpkins.

The carved pumpkin
Original creation: François Gagné
Photos by France Quirion

Draw a vine motif or any other motif that inspires you with a pencil on the pumpkin. Get out the carving gouges, arm yourself with patience and create your own ephemeral work of art.

Enjoy!