Pumpkin Painting

I decided this year for Halloween to buy a pumpkin for my husband and I to carve, and to buy a pumpkin for my two-year-old daughter, Evelyn, to paint.

I wasn't sure, though, how I was going to go about having my daughter paint her pumpkin. I wanted to let her have as much control over the creative process as possible, but I also wanted a pumpkin that looked cute. As much as I love my daughter's "abstract" (and sometimes very minimalist) art, I love it even more when I can incorporate it into a more finished design. 

After looking through some examples of alternative pumpkin decorating, I came across the idea to use masking tape to create a silhouette or other design. Paint is then applied to the pumpkin, and after it dries, the tape is pulled off to reveal a picture or pattern in orange. I thought to myself this would be perfect. I would create the design with the tape, Evelyn would paint over it, and it would be a cute collaboration. 

My husband thought it would be fun to do a cat silhouette and a moon. So, I put strips of masking tape on the pumpkin, covering the area where I wanted the cat and the moon. I drew the cat's silhouette and the moon on the tape, then I used an Exacto knife to cut the excess tape away from the design. 

I then set my daughter up with a little painting station outside (the weather was too nice to not take advantage). 

I used an egg carton to place the paint colors in. It worked great! 

And I gave my daughter foam brushes to apply the paint to the pumpkin. 

I realized right away in the painting process that I had the wrong kind of paint. It would just kind of slide around the pumpkin without soaking in. I either should have initially spray painted the pumpkin with a matte gray or white to make it easier for the kid paint to stick, or I should have done my research and bought the right kind of paints for a pumpkin.

Evelyn had a lot of fun with the process anyway, and her dad and I stepped in to give the pumpkin a more even coat of paint. (We ended up dabbing the paint on rather than brushing it. It wasn't great, but it worked well enough.)

My husband mixed a little bit of the paint with some water and "poured" it over the top of the pumpkin to create a streaked look. The pumpkin started out a bit of a mess, but in the end, we made it work.

And I apologize for the not as good picture of the pumpkin its final final stage (with the tape ripped off). I took that one with my phone. I was too lazy to grab the better camera. I plan to try this idea for painting a pumpkin again next year, and at least I know better than to just try to apply any old paint I have on hand. But I still think this one came out all right. It wasn't a total loss.