Due to health issues (diagnosed with tendonitis in BOTH arms) was unable to paint a single pummie this past year and only managed to carve out a minimal amount. I apologize to all of you who watch my page for the new painted pumpkins. Hopefully the problem has been resolved and this year will see me able to continue my "fad"!

It has been a long, long time since I last visited and updated my DA page! Unfortunately I have been seriously sidetracked with my personal life and a new obsession! Hopefully as fall approaches the bug will bite me again. I want to thank all of your for your faves! I tried to answer each of you, hope I got them all!

Wow, I wish I had logged on sooner. Just received the information that now a category has been added for pumpkin carving! I have been carving pumpkins since 1985, and boy oh boy, do I have photos! Oooops, I am also showing my age!

Need to finish uploaded this year's batch of painted pummies and then can start on the carved! No rest for the crazy!

Appreciate all of you who have given comments or have faved my pummies this past month. Took me over 3 hours to thank all of you personally!

Have been extremely frantic these past 2 months as we finally made the plunge and set up a stand at a craft fair to sell some of my painted pumpkins. We went with 70 small painted pumpkins and sold about 50 over the 2 day fair (not too bad)! We took the money we made and have invested it into the "fake" pumpkins.

Now I can paint pumpkins all year round! Wait!!!??? Is that a GOOD thing?

Wow!!!! I have finally finished by submissions of pumpkins that I painted last year! It seems the older I get the faster time just slips thru my fingers. We are already in September and I haven't finished organizing last years carved pumpkin patterns. It took me most of the morning just to thank people for their favs. Thanks again you guys!!!!

I am starting my search for this year's pumpkin paintings. As mentioned in the comments section, I HAVE started painting/carving on the "fake" pumpkins, but it is a slow process. The cost of a "fake" pumpkin is a bit prohibiting (they can run from $15.00 - $35.00 a piece) and are a bit more difficult to work with. The texture for painting is disimilar to a real pumpkin and as for carving, I have found them fairly difficult to work with even for a simple pattern. I guess I need more practice, but with the amount they cost I don't want to make ANY mistakes!!!

I am hoping to eventually have enough carved "fake" pumpkins to do our roadside display once more, but this time have the pumpkins hanging in the trees out of reach of vandals.

I have been asked many times "Why do you paint on pumpkins", so I am telling you the whole sordid story here and now.

Back in around 1985, Pumpkin Masters released a pumpkin carving kit, and since I had never carved a pumpkin, I bought one and have loved them (and keep purchasing them) ever since.

I got the idea to do a display along the road frontage of our house. We used to set up and carve 20 - 30 pumpkins every year around Halloween.

If you have ever carved a pumpkin, you realise how much work this is. At the same time I was working a full-time job and raising 2 children.

Occassionally, someone would request a carved pumpkin for themselves, and for a fee, I would oblige. Unfortunately, a carved pumpkin will last about 2 weeks at the most (this was before fake pumpkins made an appearance).

There is a small fruit stand near where we live, and after talking to the owners, we decided to "attempt" to sell carved pumpkins to the public. Only a few orders trickled in and I was ready to give it up, when Pumpkin Masters released a painted pumpkin kit and we took off from there.

A painted pumpkin will last for months (until it rots).
I have had pumpkins go from September to March before they finally turned rotten. The Marik pumpkin submission is a good example of this. I painted the design in September of 2004 and we finally had to throw it our in March 2005. I have also had pumpkins last little longer then a carved pumpkin (a week or two). I have found no 100% way to tell which will last and which will not. I always check my pumpkins over before painting on them. Checking that they are firm and have no soft spots, but have still been fooled and have had them either stay "forever" or fall over in a few days.

Of course, people want to choose what they want if they are paying for it. So they ask me if I can paint such and such on a pumpkin, and I do the research to locate a graphic/photo to work from.

And that is how it stands today. My coworkers will ask if I can paint Belle or Ariel or whatever. If I don't already have a graphic/photo in my archives a search the Internet to find something that they approve of.

I enjoy the challenge of "new" ideas, which is why I am on a hunt for new graphics 24/7. It is only a hobby and most years a make little over what it costs me in paints, paint brushes and pumpkins.

And that is why I paint on pumpkins.