How to paint pumpkins this Halloween!

Every year (for the last 5 years) we have made the usual trek to a pumpkin farm, picked up some pumpkins & a couple of days later, my front porch would sport a happy pumpkin & it’s slightly wicked smiley cousin. This year though, saw some painted pumpkins on Pinterest & immediately knew that it would be a fun activity for my daughter and I to do.

Predictably, there was no trip to pumpkin farm, but I did go quite overboard with the number of pumpkins! My daughter wanted one all for herself. I wanted to do one with floral pattern, one with the drip paint pattern & is it even fall without a plaid pattern?!

Let’s go over the drip paint pumpkin first. This was the fastest & it was super fun to do!

Things Needed: Pumpkin, acrylic paints, water.

1. Wipe clean & dry the pumpkin. Place the pumpkin on a mat or a piece of rag.
2. Any size would do, but with a larger pumpkin you will of course need a lot of paint.
3. If you are using an orange pumpkin, paint a base coat with a light color. Let it dry completely. I have used a white pumpkin here.
4. The fun begins! All you need to do is thin the paint with some water so that it flows down easily. Start to pour the paint from the top & let it roll down.
5. Mix & match dark and light colors, matt & glossy colors for an organic look.

Next up is the floral painted pumpkin. I really enjoyed painting this! It was a big orange pumpkin to start with. So, after stationing the lil one with her own supplies, I got down to paint this. I have seen videos of floral paintings on Anna Bond’s Instagram page for years now. That was my starting point for this project.

Things Needed: Pumpkin, acrylic paints.

1. First, wipe clean the pumpkin & dry completely.
2. Gave the orange pumpkin (including the stem) two coats of linen color.
3. Drew outline of some big flowers & leaves.
4. Painted them & free handed the buds and smaller designs.
5. Painted the stem golden for a touch of glam.
6. In addition to the floral patterns, smaller details like the veins & double shaded petals gave this a

You could do any pattern, simple or intricate. On the other pumpkin I did plaid pattern, which is very simple but yet very seasonal. My daughter painted the rainbow pumpkin & has been showing them off to all her friends & teachers 🙂