Another Ghoultide Gathering peek

Wizards have always said that some pumpkin boys are grown on the vine, and some are hatched, but the pumpkin boys I have always known have all been vine grown.   I  have to admit I dismissed the hatching tale as folklore.  Imagine my surprise when I was told about "Hatch D. Lumina", a new pumpkin boy hatched from a jack-o-lantern.  Yes, that's right, pictures were taken showing the little fellow springing fully grown, clothed and carrying a JOL party mask for the upcoming Pumpkin Ball.

"Hatch", as his friends call him, has maintained his birthing jack-o-lantern and uses it to snuggle into during the day with his spider and other crawly friends.  Every evening he can be found popping back out of the cracked opening to locate his spooky companions of the night to prepare for an evening of fun and mischief.  He isn't terribly naughty, but when you see a worm floating in the Halloween punch, you don't have to ask who is responsible.

"Hatch" is really excited about his trip to Michigan to meet and party with the many mischief makers to be found at Ghoultide Gathering.  Hope you can come and introduce yourself to the him!

Have a great day!
Laurie

Big Head Frankie

I had a weekend filled with painting and final sculpting on a few pieces and thought I would share "Big Head Frankie" with you. This little guy has a thing for Frank Sinatra and the Rat Pack crew in Vegas so he was insistent on tuxedo style attire, but picked a silly pumpkin fellow for his bucket. Guess you can't always understand the mind, or should I say seed-pulp, of a pumpkin boy.

I've been using more glazes and experimenting on the finished paint surface of some of the more recent pieces and I think it may show in the close up of "Frankie". Hope you like the change. I'm particularly happy with how it is working on the heads and faces of the figures. Unfortunately, the camera can't pick it all up, but I still think it shows in a subtle way in the images of "Frankie".

Have a great week!! Back to the paint for me!

Laurie

Fa-la-la-la-la La-la-la-la

Well, I just had a pleasant surprise. I went to Flickr to upload my images and much to my surprise I found this lovely holly frame to put around my photos. It is cold outside, snow possibly on Sunday, holly frames available to "Christmas-up" the figures...all is good with the world. (It doesn't take much to make me happy!!)

Below is the finished Pumpkin-Elf, "Standish". I need my head examined for putting the hours into sculpting and painting his hat and boots, but I just couldn't resist. Unlike last month's "Elf in the Ornie", this hat doesn't have real jingle bells, these are made of paper mache and painted to look like bells.

"Standish" is another one of my Pumpkin Boys that loves all holidays. He doesn't deliver presents on Christmas day, but he does help Santa with the distribution side of things up at the North Pole. He checks the names and packaging of each gift (along with a crew of "elves", if you know what I mean *wink-wink*) so that Santa successfully delivers each child the correct toy and gift. It isn't like it use to be at the North Pole as they have even gone to bar coding! "Standish" takes his responsibility very seriously to assure that Santa doesn't disappoint the children of the world and is shown here holding a teddy bear (also paper mache) and candy canes (paperclay) to be packaged for....oops, that would let the surprise out!

"Standish" is one of the more dashing of the Lumina family members and is never seen without his full elf costume except when he takes his January vacation to the Caribbean....then it is strictly island shirts and shorts for this little guy.

"Standish" hopes as Christmas approaches that you have a joyous and loving holiday season and that he doesn't see your name on the naughty list!!

Have a great weekend!
Laurie

Augustus Lumina with Cyrus, His Cat Scepter

I had a good day yesterday and finished the painting on another new figure for Halloween and Vine. Let me introduce you to little "Augustus Lumina", a magician cousin in the Lumina (pumpkin) family. He loves Halloween and wears the number 31 proudly on his magician cap, as you can see below, to honor the date of Halloween. He also is shown carrying his trusty-rusty cat scepter, Cyrus, to help him perform his magic.

Augustus isn't a magician of the dark arts....he likes to think of his magic as falling somewhere in the light to medium gray area. He does relatively harmless acts of magic such as turning gummy worms into actual worms in children's candy (no sugar so it's healthier for the teeth), turning cell phones into frogs (you don't need to be talking on them all the time anyway), removing the white stripe on a skunk to make it look like a cat (they need a little scratch behind the ears too), and making naughty children grow horns until they change their ways (an incentive to be a better person)...things of that sort. You might actually refer to him as more of a magician of mischief more than anything else.

Augustus had his mother decorate the back of his cape and wanted to show off her handy work so here is a back view.

Such an innocent little face for such a mischievous little fellow. Keep an eye out for him on Halloween night because your bag of candy might not end up being candy after he cast a spell on it, so look carefully as you unwrap each piece!

Have a great day!
Laurie

"I Want This One"

Our recent cool weather has made it very easy to be in the "fall" mode of thinking so naturally that has had an influence on my Halloween pieces. The day I sculpted "I Want This One," I had driven by the local Farmer's Market and remembered what it is like in the fall to see the children running to the pumpkins to pick out their special treasure. I think you all of seen their little faces light up as they gingerly carry their new treasure to their mother or father and announce, "I want this one." Well, that is what I was trying to capture when sculpting and painting little Seymour shown below.


I tried to give him the face of an innocent child totally involved with his new affection for a Halloween pumpkin. Will he be able to cut into it and make a jack-o'-lantern, or is it too precious for him to cut through it's skin to make a scary face? Only Seymour knows....but I'm betting this little pumpkin isn't destined for the knife.


Lots of little details in his long spindly vine-like fingers wrapped around the selected pumpkin, and something in Seymour's demeanor required a German glass glitter covered bow. His little sweater vest even carries the logo of the very fashionable house of "Bats-n-more", where all of the little pumpkin children receive their clothing.


To coordinate with his stylish bow tie, Seymour has just a touch of ribbon glitter at the base of his magician's cap. Now, how could you say no to such an impish little fellow? You know he got his choice of pumpkins!!!

Seymour hopes that your children and grandchildren all get to experience the thrill of pumpkin selection this fall!! I hope you remember him and his joy everytime you see a pumpkin on a porch or in a window this fall!!

Have a great day and now it is back to the paint for me!!

Laurie

Little Penrod Lumina Pumpkin

I really need to get to the studio so this will be short and .....sweet?!! Below is Little Penrod Lumina Pumpkin with his Boo Bucket, Willard. Little Penrod is related to the Lumina Brothers of the past postings, but he has a little more "refinement" due to his upbringing and education. I think you can see it in his appearance.

Little Penrod wears a celestial star hat with copper glitter trim, a Halloween orange jacket with white piping and a black scalloped-edge cape with a star motif to match his hat and star button on his jacket. You can tell this little pumpkin attended Halloween prep school.

Below is a close-up of Willard on the Boo Bucket. Even Willard wears a bow tie to go out trick or treating!!

That's it for today. Little Penrod bids you a good day and wishes you spider hugs and kisses until tomorrow!

Have a great day everyone!!

Laurie

These are 3 new pieces completed recently I have lovingly named the "3 Amigos", Alfred, Robert and Bug-eyed Jack. Due to their long legs they stand 26.5" tall with each carrying a sculpted face lantern.