Pumpkin painting is a blast and simple enough that anyone can do it. Celebrate the holidays by creating one yourself.  Pumpkin Painting Ideas can be found just about anywhere you look.

You can choose something from a magazine, newspaper or perhaps you found something in your favorite craft magazine that you’d like to paint. That’s great. You can also design your own patterns and faces. Your pumpkin is the canvas, waiting to be made into a masterpiece.  Get started having some fun!

Get a jump-start on Halloween by inviting a few of your childs’ friends over for a pumpkin painting party. Because kids can be a bit messy be sure they wear old clothes. Have them bring along an apron or old t-shirt for extra clothing protection.

You as the host will need to supply one pumpkin per child, as well as all the art supplies necessary to complete the pumpkin project. Permanent multi-colored markers make a good start. Acrylic paint and detail brushes can be used to fill in the details of the design.

You can use a pattern from coloring books, magazines or just let their imaginations run wild. As an option for the older children, additional embellishments can be added to further spruce up their creations.

A handkerchief, scarf, yarn or raffia can be used for hair and to make hats. Buttons can be affixed to the pumpkins with stickpins for noses or earrings. Look around the house for odds and ends that could be used, or ask the children to bring their own makeshift accessories.

When they are finished with their pumpkin painting project take a picture of each child with their creation. Be sure to use either an instant or digital camera so you’ll be able to give them the photo, along with the pumpkin, to take home.

Technorati Tags: ideas, Painting, Party, Pumpkin

Not so long ago my daughter and I attended a beachside festival to celebrate a bumper fishing season. As you would expect at any festival we noticed many children walking around proudly displaying some absolutely gorgeous body art, in the form of face painting.

 

Now I am not talking clown faces and cheek flowers here, though those are cute and fun to do, I’m talking full on almost theatrical face painting with incredible shading and artistic flair.

 

Naturally we hunted down the guilty party and sat down for a bit of decorative indulgence too, and since that day I have been on a mission to learn the art myself as it really is a lot of fun and can be quite a useful talent too when it comes to school fairs, fundraisers and of course other parties.

 

Of course you need to start at the beginning with the 3 basic tools and these are:

 

Face Paint: This is specially designed for use on the skin and is water soluble so also easy to remove. You can purchase this type of paint at many party stores, dance supplies stores and of course online. They come in palettes or as individual pots and the colour range is huge. Start off with a basic colour range of perhaps black, white, blue, red, green, yellow, pink and flesh tone. These are great colours to practice with and are enough to create a wide variety of designs.

Brushes: Start off with 3 synthetic artists brushes. A fine pointed one for details and outlines, a medium pointed brush for bolder strokes and a largish brush for filling in large areas. Synthetic is best as it is much softer on the delicate facial skin.

Sponges: You’ll need a sponge to cover large areas, such as the base for a full face design. You can start off with regular latex make-up sponges which are triangular in shape and thus make it easier to control the area you are applying the paint and create lines too. As you get more proficient you can buy a whole range of different sized sponges from the make-up supplier which will give you even more effect options.

 

So now you are ready to go. Start off with some simple ideas, working on just the cheek or arm and gradually work you way up to more complicated designs, you are only limited by your imagination. And trust me, you’ll find no shortage of little ones happy to let you practise on them.

Technorati Tags: Body, Child's, Create, face, Gorgeous, Painting, Party