Pumpkins 2024

U Ken Do Art · 2 years ago · 88 views

This year, I got inspired by the sequel to the movie, "Beetlejuice", and the death of James Earl Jones (the voice of "Star Wars" character, Darth Vader). I also tried to pay homage to Barbie.  With the passing of my wife, Judy, I thought of "Good Grief, Charlie Brown" as my first pumpkin. I typically carve 5 pumpkins per season. We did our family tradition of carving pumpkins this year at my sister-in-law's home. It took super long to carve Beetlejuice (above) and I was pleasantly surprised when he was finally lit up. Everyone did an awesome job and were enthusiastic and creative with their choices. We went to Ben Franklin store the morning of the party to get supplies for my snake version of Beetlejuice, which I carved later that morning. My sister-in-law's husband carved a spooky tree with a bat flying out of it. He did an excellent job! I love the little yellow eyes on the bat!! He also spent lots of time scraping down the inside, which resulted in a more glowing pumpkin. Next is the mystery pumpkin by my niece's significant other, whom I discovered is an amazing sculptor. He wouldn't tell us what exactly his vision for his jack-o-lantern was. He started by cutting off the bottom and kept whittling it down until we finally saw the eight legs of his spider pumpkin. That arachnid is flexible! Well maybe just its neck!! My sister-in-law went more traditional, although I have to say she broke out from her triangle-shape comfort zone. Simple but with a scary expression! My niece was dedicated with the chevron-shaped cutouts for her owl's feathers. We kidded her that the top of the head and ears resembled a hat from the Revolutionary War. Ha! My nephew chose to carve a pirate pumpkin complete with eyepatch. We thought he was saying "Arrgh!" After the party, I worked at carving my remaining pumpkins. Admittedly, my Darth Vader was copied from a design I saw online. Still, I embellished him with black Sharpie. I started using a Sharpie last year when my other niece used one to color in a ghost's hat. Very effective! Here's this year's pumpkin carved (and flipped) by my innovative niece. This was also the year of the Barbie movie. I think I've created Mediterranean Barbie, although at night she becomes Vampire Barbie! I had trouble with the eyes and had to replace one of her bottom lids. My brother recommended that I peel more skin off the hair to make her look blonder.