how to paint a pumpkin on canvas
Photo: Everett Collection
“A great sacrifice of pumpkins” had been made for Halloween in 1866, the children’s magazine Harper’s Young People reported. A year later in the novel Twice-Told Tales, carved vegetable lanterns were reverently referred to as jack-o’-lanterns, in print, for the very first time.
During Ireland’s Samhain festival, long before the sacrifice of 1866, people would carve rudimentary faces into large turnips and illuminate them to dissuade shadow-dwelling fairies from invading their homes. This craft is now emblematic of the creature comforts of Halloween, a terra firma respite from the eerie and sinister forces of the holiday. As you scheme up your carving strategies this season, think beyond the gourd itself and incorporate additional elements to make a curio that’s a bit more compelling than the triangle-eyed, snarly-toothed personalities of yesteryear: Concoct a pumpkin sculpture (find afflatus from designers here) or a pumpkin diorama.
A pumpkin diorama is a scene set within the orange walls of a gourd. The word diorama is derived from two Greek words which together translate to, “through that which is seen,” and here, the floors of pumpkins serve as the stage. Fuse charm and fright to conjure a tombstone-strewn graveyard, an obscured Halloween dinner party for witches and vampires, a botanic terrarium, or whatever other vignettes you can adjure up. ’Tis the season to intertwine the natural with the phantasmal—by way of a glue gun.
Carving Instructions A specialty carving set, available from such stores as Williams Sonoma and Terrain, is recommended. First use a keyhole saw to cut a circular top around the stem of the pumpkin, and then use a plaster scraper to remove its globs of seeds, pulp, and flesh. Brush thick swipes of craft paint, if so desired, onto the outer surface and allow to dry. Once the canvas is primed, fantasy takes hold.
Pumpkin Dioramas Nearly any small object can be incorporated into these treasure chest vitrines. Miniature Cottage, Miniatures.com, and Etsy are excellent sources—each has an absorbing collection of miniature Halloween effigies: cauldrons, dusty spell books, and even pumpkin-carving configurations.
1. Using a template and a miniature saw, cut a rectangle into the face of the pumpkin, making sure that the bottoms of the rectangle and of the vegetable are in line (if the bases are uneven, insert a discreet platform made of stiff foam or wood). Paint the interior with a dark color to simulate the spookiest of scenes, or a light color to render daylight and fog.
2. Sow the bottom with moss or dirt, if relevant, and build upward from there, stabilizing each element with a hot glue gun and/or pins. Attach clear or color-matched string to the pumpkin ceiling with pins to allow for bats and birds to hover.
3. To illuminate, forgo candles (for glaring reasons) and instead place short strings of battery-operated fairy lights or small, artificial tea lights inside. To cast a sky of stars and constellations, poke pinholes into the back of the pumpkin and then position it in front of a ablaze source. Pumpkin Sculptures If you’re able to gather elements—pinecones, twigs, wildflowers, coffins—for the project while hiking, this will imbue the sculptures with an intimate specialness. If not, or if you live far from nature, fear not: Branches, bits of moss, cold-weather flowers, and nest-like structures are usually available for purchase from specialty florists and craft stores. Other suggested garnishes are bits of paper, felt, silver spikes, gemstones, spider figurines, origami bats, and candles to melt and drip.
1. Begin by carving your design of choice using a template (if preferred) and a miniature carving saw.
2. Attach the relics you’ve gathered to the outside of the pumpkin with a hot glue gun by piercing the husk of its skin with a metal rod and sticking objects through, perforating with a pin, or using a combination of methods.
3. Insert candles or battery-operated lights as you would with a jack-o-lantern.
Your compositions are sure to thrill—or bewilder—even the most discerning of ghouls and crypt keepers.
