Easy and quick steps to creating your favorite image on this seasons favorite ornament, a pumpkin.

1. Painting a Pumpkin
Basic Creative Steps
Valerie Ivette Santiago

2. Step One: Get up and Out
• Drive, don’t walk to your nearest
store or orchard.
• Pumpkins can be heavy and chances
are it’s cold outside!

3. Step Two: Pick the Perfect One
• If you’re visiting your local grocery
or retail store you’ll find pumpkins
outside in place of the flowers
and plants that were once there
for the summer.
• You may also find smaller ones in
the stores floral department.

4. Step 3: Search for Supplies.
• In my case I only needed paint,
paint brushes, and sharpies.
• I recommend trash bags, a sponge
and or a cloth, pens or pencils,
note book paper and soap.
• Some dance music and a good
spirit doesn’t hurt this process
either.

5. Step 4: Find your spot of Creativity
• Before departing in search of
your creative spot; make sure
you get a receipt for your perfect
pumpkin. (I definitely wouldn’t
want to go to jail for jacking a
pumpkin.)
• As you find your spot of creativity
and settle in be sure that your
companion understands which
pumpkin is theirs. (In this case
she picked my pumpkin)

6. Step 5: Set up your Creative Space
• This is where you lay down
trash bags and double check
you have all your supplies
before the fun begins.

7. Step 6: Clean and Dry your Pumpkin
• Since my pumpkin
was sitting outside I
took a second to
wipe it down with a
sponge and water
and dry it; this gets
off any dirt and helps
keep your painting
area nice and smooth
verses having an area
disrupted with
debris.

8. Step 7: Get those creative juices flowing
• I accepted that I’m no Picasso a long time ago but today I challenged that.
• I used a pen and paper to practice drawing then I took it to my real canvas.

9. Tips
• Don’t be hard on yourself, this is supposed to be fun. Once I accepted
that my flower was my own creation, drawing it was seamless.
• If you don’t follow your gut and buy a pencil and get stuck with a pen
like I did no worries, wiping your pumpkin with soap and water erases
the pen marks. Remember to dry it thoroughly following the cleaning.
• If you happen to realize after finalizing your creation that you painted
with watercolors, don’t judge yourself like I did. Laugh and remember
to bring your pumpkin inside on cloudy days when there’s potential
rain.
• Lastly, play some music, have family and friends join in and have a
ball!