Pumpkin Carving Ideas 2020

Our 2019 Family of Pumpkins

Each October I look forward to selecting and carving several pumpkins to display on our front porch for trick-or-treaters on Halloween. While we don't expect as many this year due to COVID, I still planned to carve a few jack-o-lanterns anyway. These are from 2019. I'm waiting until the week of the 26th to carve mine for 2020.

While at the grocery recently, I saw my very first mutant pumpkin. It was one large pumpkin sharing its stem with a smaller hanger-on. Even one of the store clerks had to take a picture of it on his phone. I've seen some carvings that attach small pumpkins, or other fruits or vegetables to create facial features. Two yellow apples or oranges may be used to create the ears of Disney's Mickey Mouse. Cute!

This year, I spent some time browsing the Internet for ideas, thinking that we would get together as a family to try our hands at carving. As usual, I found lots of creepy, scary faces. I wanted to try this one myself because of the depth achieved in crafting the eyes and exposed teeth. My cat pumpkins traditionally have slanted eyes like these, but I typically carve out the whites of the eyes rather than peeling off the skin. It will be interesting to make the iris and pupils the negative space. Maybe next year!

I was also inspired by two rather complicated curvy carvings of Medusa and the character Davy Jones (Bill Nighy) in Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest. Uma Thurman played the part of snake-haired Medusa in 2010's Percy Jackson & the Olympians: The Lightning Thief.

In Greek Mythology, the goddess Athena turns the beautiful mortal Gorgon priestess into an ugly hag following her affair with the sea god Poseidon. Anyone caught looking into her eyes becomes one of her stone statues in her garden. Perseus, the only son of Zeus and Danae, is famous for beheading her.

My Davy Jones

👈 Silhouettes are also popular in pumpkin carving, like this dragon emerging from a fiery lair.

Or this raven spreading its wings as it flies in front of the harvest moon.👉

My Raven

My UW Husky Mascot (2018)

I am impressed by this carving of a wolf's head. Achieving the proper effect requires an understanding of +/- space. The head is slightly turned to create more of a 3D look. In 2018 I was able to successfully create a Husky dog profile.

The thickness of the pumpkin flesh gave the letter 'W' a 3D appearance.

My daughter was inspired by her Shikoku dog, Jeju (Korean name), or maybe the wolf pumpkin I showed her. Anyway, she quite successfully captured him here.

My Minion (2017)

I enjoy seeing how carvers achieve their effects without compromising the integrity of the vegetable that is sure to rot and cave in not long after Halloween. These carvings of Harry Potter's face are good examples. Notice how there is flesh left at the bridge of the nose and only the top edge of the frames are cut through, leaving some parts that may be cut only halfway through. I also created a Minion in 2017. Carving away the skin gives the face a different glow to the face than that of the bibbed-overall pants of the minion. I enjoy the range of warm yellow and orange colors and highlights from the intensity of the candle inside. The variation of both the thickness and depth of your cuts provides extra outlining and shading.

Challenge yourself to try more intricate and graphic carvings like this spider or this Star Wars Darth Vader head. Last year, I went with a Spiderman head (see my 2019 pumpkins above) which required carving web lines partway through the flesh, then peeling away the skin between the lines. It took lots of patience and repetition though the final result was worth the time and effort. 

         

Sometimes you may want to channel your inner Martha Stewart and create more decorative designs. Last year, my wife chose polka dots.  I like to use drill bits or kitchen tools but would rather use them to create an owl or this Day of the Dead skull. An awl or screwdriver makes a great hole-punch.

      

My Skull & Raven

👈I'd like to attempt carving these random roses at some point.

In 2015, I did an all-over carving of multiple mini jack-o-lantern faces creating a complicated yet interesting pattern that projected faces on the walls of our porch.👇

My Multi-faceted Jacks (2015)

Interview With an Artist -- Photographer Zbig Kasprzyk

“Taking Flight” Great Blue Heron, Bear River Migratory Bird Refuge, Utah

My next interview subject is another of my colleagues from the Black Diamond Arts Alliance, my friend, and Photographer, Zbig Kasprzyk. I met Zbig and his wife, Kareen this year when I joined BDAA. I featured Zbig's wildlife photography last May in my Animal Art & Wildlife Photography post. 

1. What benefits have you received from joining an artist association?

I actually consider myself a newcomer to the term “artist”. In college, I wanted to be a commercial photographer. I spent a year in a commercial photography program and worked at several photo labs doing mainly custom prints. This was all in the days of film, nothing digital. Life took a strange turn and I got into law enforcement, I spent over 33 years in that field. I kept dabbling in photography the whole time and now am able to spend more time with it. I joined the Black Diamond Arts Alliance a couple of years ago and this has helped me an awful lot. People like Barbara Benedetti Newton, Patricia J. Moss, and many others have been a great inspiration and help. The artist critiques we hold at BDAA are extremely helpful. 

“Cougar Falls” Nickel Creek, Mount Rainier National Park

2. How do you find inspiration?

"Wagon Wheel" Bannack State Park, Montana

My love of nature is my main inspiration for a lot of my photos, just seeing the beauty out there and trying to capture it in a photograph inspires me. There are also stories that can be told by taking just the right photo. You can also find beauty in man-made things.

3. Do you travel for your art?

“Ketchikan Sunrise” Ketchikan, AK

I have traveled quite a bit. I’m lucky that I have family in South Africa and parts of Europe so I’ve been able to visit them, and of course, my camera goes everywhere with me. I have also traveled to parts of the US and plan on many more trips.

4. Why do you create art?

“Coopers Hawk” Enumclaw, WA

I’ve always loved the challenge that photography brings. When I’m out taking photos, I can get lost in my own world and it’s just me, my camera, and the subject. That’s probably why I love nature photography as much as I do. 

5. What is your process like?

“Ladybug"

It’s always trying to be at the right spot at the right time, sometimes you can plan that other times it’s just the luck of being there. I’m always walking around trying to find the right lighting, the right angle. I’m trying to look at things differently. There are times when you are looking at a nice big landscape and there is something small almost under your feet that you might miss. After my photoshoot, I download my photos on my computer and start going through them. They might need some cropping, slight exposure adjustment, etc. Ideally, I try not to do too much adjusting to a photo. 

6. What is your favorite piece you’ve created?

“Serenity” Female Elephant, Zulu Nyala Game Reserve, South Africa

My favorite piece would be the one I call “Serenity”. This was taken at Zulu Nyala Game Reserve in South Africa. It’s a close-up head-on shot of a female elephant, focusing on her right eye. Her eye is closed and she looks as though she may be sleeping. This was one photo that required no adjustment of any kind.

7. What is your favorite piece by another artist?

My all-time favorite photographer is Ansel Adams. I have a hard time picking a favorite photograph of his. I would say that his photos at Yosemite are my favorite. Beautiful black-and-whites are so hard to find anymore.

8. What is your philosophy as an artist?

“Winter Reflection” Sinkhole Lake, Enumclaw, WA

I take photos for my love of the beauty that surrounds us. I don’t necessarily take a photo because someone else may like it; you need to love what you produce.  

Masks and other Face Coverings Throughout History, Art, TV, and Movies

Girl With a Blue Surgical Mask

Masks are becoming the new norm when we see faces out in public, on TV, or even in advertisements. We will forever recognize 2020 as the year of the mask because of COVID-19. In this post, I want to talk about face coverings throughout history and their use ceremonially in various cultures, as disguises, and for characters from movies and in commercial advertisements. Often the eyes are the only feature necessary for identifying a person, which is why I suppose that some masks that cover the eyes are better at concealing a person's identity.

Examples include Zorro, the Lone Ranger (Clayton Moore or Armie Hammer), Jet Li as Kato in the Green Hornet, The Dread Pirate Roberts (Cary Elwes, a.k.a. Westley) from The Princess Bride, Chia-Hui Liu as Johnny Mo (bald-headed general of the Crazy 88 with Kato mask) from Kill Bill: Vol. 1, McDonald’s the Hamburglar and various superheroes. You may also see such eye masks at a masquerade ball, a carnival, or in some old paintings of harlequins.

Ryan Reynolds as Deadpool

Often, creepy full-face coverings conceal disfigurements, such as The Phantom of the Opera, the Elephant Man (veil), Star Wars' Darth Vader, Ryan Reynolds' campy character in Deadpool, and House of Wax with Vincent Price as the disfigured sculptor who resorts to using real people for his wax figures. 

Loki mask from The Mask

Memorable mask movies include 1929’s Iron Mask, 1939’s Man in the Iron Mask, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre, Nick Castle in the Halloween series as Michael Myers, Jason’s Friday the Thirteenth hockey mask, Predator’s mask, the 4 ex-Presidents in Point Break, Jim Carrey's (Loki) Mask, Scream's Ghostface mask, Hannibal (Lecter's) leather mask, Hugo Weaving in V for Vendetta, and Tony Stark's (Robert Downey Jr.) Ironman.

Even before the pandemic, The Masked Singer became one of the most popular shows on prime-time TV. Each persona was entirely concealed by not only a large headpiece (not a mask) but an elaborate costume (like Ironman). Even the speaking voice was altered until you heard the celebrity actually sing.

Today, masks are used for occupational purposes to protect a welder's eyes and to guard against breathing dangerous gases or sharing harmful germs. They are also used on Lay's potato chip bags, and in the commercial for anti-depression drug Rexulti with the paper smiley face on a stick as a prop.

The Lovers (1928), Magritte

It is somewhat difficult to find works of art that show people wearing masks. Surrealist Belgian artist, René Magritte is famous for covering faces. You've all seen The Son of Man (1946) in which he covers the suited man's face with a Granny Smith apple. It was used in the 1999 remake of The Thomas Crown Affair starring Pierce Brosnan.

In an earlier painting, he covers the entire heads of a couple in The Lovers.

Thalia and Melpomene

One of the oldest and most recognizable masks are the pair of symbolic comedy and tragedy faces used in the golden age (500-300 BC) of ancient Greek drama to represent theater arts.

The history of masks is a very interesting subject. Apparently, masks were used in rituals and ceremonies to communicate with ancestral spirits, scare off enemies, and cover the faces of the dead. Such ceremonies often included performances to promote successful hunting and harvesting, as well as in medical practices to drive away evil spirits from the sick. Mexicans celebrate the Day of the Dead (Dia de Los Muertos) from 31 October - 2 November and honor the dead by painting their faces and wearing colorful masks resembling skulls.

Venetian Carnival Masks

As far back as the 13th century, masks were used to celebrate Carnival in Venice. They are still used today in a big way in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil for their Carnival. The Chinese conduct week-long celebrations of the New Year by wearing masks representing their deities, spirits, and fabled animals associated with the particular year (e.g. 2020 is the Year of the Rat). In parts of Austria, the darker side of Christmas is celebrated in early December at the Krampusnacht Festival. Participants wear masks representing a mythical horned demonic creature, Krampus, who, unlike the benevolent and kind St. Nicholas, wishes to punish misbehaving children.

When my daughter was in Jr. High School one of her teachers (maybe of World Cultures) assigned each student to create their own version of an African mask. This was one of my all-time favorite school projects in which I was encouraged to participate as a parent helper/advisor. Today I marvel when 4th-graders at the school where I volunteer display their fantastic masks made of paper. This mask was made by a 5th-grader with a substitute teacher, Jennifer Boudreau, and was posted on the teacher's Mena Woods' blog.

I especially appreciate this mask's 3D effect using paper cutouts.

Stay tuned for the next Interview With an Artist installment, where I interview a photographer friend. 

What's in a Logo? Recognizable and Memorable Company Logos

Logos are symbols or designs that companies and organizations adopt for identifying their products, vehicles, uniforms, and other paraphernalia. The best designs are simple and easily recognizable without the need for a company name or other text. They are often made up of a single color perhaps with white or black as a background or contrast.

My own high school sports teams used a cardinal head as their logo. Back in the day, two girls (one was my next-door neighbor) dressed up as the mascots. My job was to make the cardinal heads. They were constructed out of paper mâché, and I'm not sure how long they lasted!

When my daughter was in 6th-grade, we painted career logos on muslin squares that were then assembled into a quilt as a graduation gift for the teacher. Students had to decide then and there what they wanted to do as an adult and design something that symbolized the job. My daughter wanted to be a Disney Imagineer. Instead, she turned out to be a Genome Scientist. Maybe the rollercoaster tracks were genetic helixes and the mouse ears a lab rat. Ha!

One of the most recognizable logos is the Olympic rings. It is simply 5 different colored circles, each representing a different region of the world. Do you know which ring/color represents your country's continent? Blue for Europe, yellow for Asia, black for Africa, green for Oceania (Australasia, Melanesia, Micronesia, and Polynesia), and red for (North and South) America. 

Only Antarctica is not represented.

Perhaps the two simplest and most familiar company logos belong to McDonald's and Target. Both companies are pretty much worldwide entities. The golden arches and the red-and-white bullseye logos are globally recognized. These one-and two-color logos have made their mark on the world using simple shapes that are firmly planted in our brains and no longer need to be accompanied by their company names. 

Even their mascots -- Ronald McDonald and Bullseye the Dog -- are easily identifiable and endearing to the kids who eat Happy Meals, enjoy indoor playgrounds, and love to shop for their favorite toys.

Who can forget the Starbucks mermaid logo? Now only green and white, the twin-tailed creature is the perfect symbol to represent the coffee icon's city of origin -- Seattle -- located between (saltwater) Puget Sound and (freshwater) Lake Washington. So, a mermaid sporting two tails makes a lot of sense. Now that I've explained it, that is!

Recently, a new Seattle-based professional hockey team logo emerged onto the sports scene as the Kracken. It is a stylized letter 'S', like baseball's Seattle Mariners logo, but with a squid-like tail splining up through its middle toward a menacing red eye. It reminds me of the neon green eye in football's Seattle Seahawks logo. Good use of positive-negative space!

Whether you're a PC or Mac lover, the Windows and Apple logos clearly distinguish between the two. Curiously, both companies chose a rainbow of colors!

Shell Oil, Nike, and Toyota have unforgettable logos. Shell uses a yellow and red-outlined shell shape, Nike has its iconic swoosh, and Toyota uses a couple of elliptical shapes arranged to form a letter 'T'.

While three ovals form the Toyota logo, four circles make up the Audi symbol. The previously named Auto Union is the combination of the four German car companies that banded together to form a union and eventually became 'Audi'.

Mercedes-Benz might be perceived as an evil scientist if you knew what its symbol meant. Apparently, the three-pronged sign represents land, sea, and air domination. One more spoke and they would have made peace!

Other less-creative automotive companies use stylized letters as their logos, such as VW, Acura, and Honda. Even the McDonald's arches form an 'M'.

Some logos when not accompanied by their company name don't make much sense. For example, the Kroger Gas logo and the CHI Franciscan logo. The Kroger colors represent its 4 chains with the (negative) white space meant to be the United States (only in 42 states). The inside of the CHI logo is a cross symbolizing the Catholic religion.

Here’s an online logo quiz that asks you to name the company solely based on the logo.

See my Shape Study post for more about organic and inorganic shapes.