An Easy Pumpkin Watercolor Tutorial for Beginners

This week's easy pumpkin watercolor tutorial, "The Cozy Pumpkin Patch," started on a warm, sunny afternoon at a pumpkin patch here in Idaho, with my grandkids racing from one funny-shaped pumpkin to the next.

Last fall, our family spent a day at an enormous pumpkin patch here in Idaho, and I do mean enormous! Row after row of pumpkins, maybe twenty or thirty varieties, every size, shape, and color you can imagine. We pulled little wagons through the patch and filled them right up.

The day was warm and sunny, the grandkids ran from one funny-shaped pumpkin to the next, and I just kept thinking: this is the good stuff.

So I brought a pile of them home and decorated our front porch, and it made me so happy every time I pulled into the driveway.

That's the feeling I wanted in this week's painting. No ghosts, no goblins, nothing spooky. Just one happy pumpkin with curly vines, tumbling leaves, and a few tiny hearts, because no painting leaves my table without one.

And here is the little pumpkin I painted:

A Patch Full of Pumpkins

What caught my eye this week wasn't one thing. It was about thirty.

Last year we took the grandkids to a pumpkin patch outside town, and I've never seen anything like it. Pumpkins stretched in every direction, in more varieties than I could count. Tall ones, flat ones, bumpy ones, smooth ones, deep orange, pale cream, dusty green. We grabbed little wagons and pulled them up and down the rows, filling them with the funniest shapes we could find. The kids were in heaven, and honestly, so were we.

I brought a car load of them home and decorated our front porch, and it made me so happy every time I pulled into the driveway.

But here's what I keep coming back to: the pumpkin is useful too. Pie, of course. But also lattes, scones, soup. It decorates the porch in October and feeds the family in November.

To me, that's worth cherishing. Something so plentiful, so beautiful, and so generous. A little glimpse of the holidays ahead, sitting right there on the porch steps. I'm thankful for that.

Mixing Our Autumn Abundance Colors

This project gave me another chance to play with my five-color Fall Collection palette. This week's colors are called Autumn Abundance: Sunlit Gold, Rust Orchard, Fallen Bark, Evergreen Hush and Dusty Bloom.

The pumpkin was perfect for it.

I washed the pumpkin in yellow and then warm rusty oranges, tucked Sunlit Gold into the sunny spots, and let the vines curl in Evergreen Hush with a little Fallen Bark. The Dusty Bloom pink found its way into a few tumbling leaves and of course the hearts, just for fun.

One of my favorite things about working with a limited palette is discovering how many colors you can make without reaching for another tube of paint.

A Fun Trick: Mix-Your-Own Pumpkin

There's a very simple trick in this week's tutorial that you can use in all kinds of paintings.

No orange on your palette? Swirl Sunlit Gold with Rust Orchard for a pumpkin orange. More gold makes it sunny, more rust makes it deep. Play with the amounts, that's the fun part, and no two mixes will look exactly alike, which is exactly as it should be. Adding different shades of yellow, orange, rust and even brown makes each pumpkin interesting and unique.

Paint This Pumpkin With Me

For this week's project, we'll paint a whimsical pumpkin together from beginning to end.

We'll start with an easy outline, wash in loose watercolor layers using our Autumn Abundance colors, add the curly vines and tumbling leaves, and finish with a fine-tip black pen. That's always my favorite moment, when the wobbly wash suddenly looks like it meant to do that all along.

And yes, there are a few tiny hearts in there too. ❤️

WATCH THE PUMPKIN WATERCOLOR TUTORIAL ON YOUTUBE:

No watercolor experience is necessary. You can trace the outline if you'd rather not draw the pumpkin yourself, and you certainly don't need to use the exact same paints I do.

The idea isn't to make yours look exactly like mine.

It's to paint something that makes you smile.

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Frequently Asked Questions

Are pumpkins hard to paint in watercolor?
No! A pumpkin is one of the friendliest subjects for a beginner. It's basically a round-ish shape with a crooked little stem. In this easy pumpkin watercolor tutorial, we keep everything loose and whimsical, so lumps and wobbles just add charm.

What watercolor colors do I need for this pumpkin painting?
I used my five-color Fall Collection palette: Hansa Yellow Light, Transparent Red Oxide, Raw Umber, Sap Green and Quinacridone Rose, all Daniel Smith brand paints. You don't need these exact paints. Similar yellow, rusty orange, brown, green and pink watercolors will work.

Do I need to know how to draw to paint this pumpkin?
No. This project is designed for beginners, and you can use a simple traced outline if drawing feels intimidating. The goal is to enjoy painting the shapes and colors, not to create a perfectly round pumpkin. Click on the YouTube tutorial video above and in the description you will find a link to download a traceable outline of the pumpkin.

What if I don't have orange paint?
Mix your own. Swirl Sunlit Gold with Rust Orchard on your palette until you get a pumpkin orange you like. More gold makes it sunny, more rust makes it deep. It's one of my favorite tricks.

How do you paint the curly vines?
You can either use a very small round brush or if you are worried your hand isn't steady enough to do that, you can just use a fine-tip black pen! After your paint is dry, draw wandering curly lines coming off the stem. There is no right way to do it. Curly and wandering is the whole point.

What if my pumpkin comes out lopsided?
Good. Wonky becomes whimsical around here. A lopsided pumpkin just has more personality. Remember, real pumpkins are lumpy in places, and that's exactly right.

This Week's Heart Practice

Today I gather autumn's abundance with gratitude.

I like this week's Heart Practice because it's something you can carry with you all week, paintbrush or not.

In gratitude, you can say a little thank-you for the abundance in your life, the big harvests and the small ones.

Then, take a deep breath and smile at your painting.

Sometimes the simplest subjects hold the most joy. One little painting at a time.

With heart and color,
💛 Donna