Autumn has completely taken over my painting. This one was always planned and I was excited to start some autumn themed paintings. I sat down to do one pumpkin piece and somehow still haven’t stopped. Nine so far.
Part of the motivation this year is that I’ve decided I’m not buying any new autumn decor. I have enough. What I am doing instead is swapping out prints for my own original paintings, which is a much better use of both the wall space and the painting time. The front door piece is already up in the kitchen. It’s one of the nicest things about getting into painting: eventually your home starts to look like yours.
If you’re new here, I wrote about getting started with acrylic painting earlier this year, and I’ve shared what I’ve been painting more generally before too. This is specifically the autumn haul.
Here’s what I’ve made.
Pumpkins as Vases (Originals, for Sale)
These were the first two, and they’re the ones I’m most pleased with as a pair. The idea was to treat pumpkins like vases: one blue pumpkin holding vibrant orange and yellow flowers, one orange pumpkin with blue, red and yellow flowers. I love how they look together, the colours bounce off each other in a way that feels very autumn without being the usual orange-and-brown palette.
These are both originals and they’re available to buy if you’d like them. They’re over on my Etsy page.
Glowing Pumpkin with Candles
This one is from a tutorial, and I loved painting it. A pumpkin on a table, a vase of flowers alongside it, candles throwing light across everything. I loved creating the glow in this.
I’ve become a bit obsessed with painting light sources. Glows, candles, cabin windows at night. I find myself wanting to work that kind of thing into everything now. This is something I want to explore a lot more.
Spooky Pumpkin Scene
Same kind of pumpkin as the previous painting but with a much more Halloween feel to it. A book, a skull, a candle, and cobwebs. Spookier, darker, more atmospheric. It was a fun one to paint and I think the extra details make it feel like a spooky Halloween scene rather than just an autumn one.
My Front Door, Halloween Style
This started from a watercolour doorway tutorial and ended up becoming my own front door painted in a Halloween style. I love how this one came out. It’s hanging in my kitchen with the rest of my autumn decor and it looks fab in there. One of those ones where taking a technique from a tutorial and applying it to something personal pays off.
The One That Went Through an Ugly Stage
This acrylic tutorial went through a phase in the middle where I was certain it was going to be a disaster. There’s a point in a lot of paintings where it looks terrible. Everything is wrong, the colours are muddy, nothing reads how you want it to. The temptation is to give up.
I didn’t, and I’m glad I didn’t. The moment I put the fine details in, it pulled together. This happens a lot, and it’s the thing I’d most want to say to anyone who’s learning: the ugly stage is part of the process. Stick with it.
Wheelbarrow with Pumpkins (Watercolour)
So much fun to paint. I love watercolour for the speed of it; it’s so much quicker than acrylic. The trade-off is that there’s not much room for error and you can’t just paint over a mistake the way you can with acrylic. But there’s something freeing about that too. This one came together quickly and I was happy with the result.
Autumn Barn
Another acrylic tutorial that I thought was going to go badly. I don’t love painting tree leaves and I’ve never felt particularly good at them, and there’s a lot of foliage in this one. But again, the finishing layers did their job. By the time I’d added the details it looked much better than I expected, and the barn itself turned out well.
Misty Forest with Cabin
This one has a really nice effect with the mist and the cabin lights, and I like the reflection. But it’s so blue. If I were to paint it again I’d pull back on the blue and go for something more muted. It’s one of those paintings where I can see exactly what I’d do differently, and I’m already planning a version two at some point.
Still, the atmosphere of the glowing cabin in the misty forest is the kind of thing I love in a painting. The light-through-windows effect again.
Creepy Scarecrow
Quick one to end on. The sky colour in this is gorgeous, that’s the bit I’m most happy with. The painting itself isn’t the most impressive thing I’ve made, but I got some good lessons out of it and the sky alone was worth the afternoon. Sometimes a painting teaches you something specific and that’s reason enough to have painted it.
Nine paintings, a lot of pumpkins, and a growing obsession with painting light. Next up I want to keep pushing the glow and candlelight work. I feel like I’m just starting to get somewhere with it.
If you’re thinking about getting into painting this autumn, I’d say now is a good time. The subjects basically paint themselves.