Stacked with Love: An Easy Stacked Pumpkins Watercolor Tutorial for Beginners

This week's easy stacked pumpkins watercolor tutorial, "Stacked with Love," started at the pumpkin patch. We went a couple of days ago, and I came home so inspired. They had beautiful displays of all the different kinds of pumpkins they grow there, in so many colors. Pink ones, green ones, and orange ones, of course.

I brought home some flat ones, and I kept thinking about the displays. Stacked up, they had such height and presence. That is the feeling inside this week's painting: a stack you build yourself, from pumpkins you picked yourself.

And here is the stack I painted:

A Porch Stack, Built for Height

I painted the simplest version of it. Not every ridge, not every leaf. Just the feeling: three flat pumpkins with their stems removed, stacked one on top of another, with a curling vine and little red berries on either side.

At home I stack pumpkins this way on my porch, to create height. It looks a little different and unique, and I love that about it. Nothing fancy. Just pumpkins I picked, piled up with care.

And because no painting leaves my table without one, there's a tiny heart curled into the vine. Some signatures are initials. Mine is a heart.

Mixing Our Heart in the Vine Colors

This project is the first one with my new November palette, and I'm excited about it. This week's colors are called Heart in the Vine: Merry Berry, Lemon Drop, Cider Glow, Garden Moss and Twilight Plum.

The stack was perfect for these colors. I washed the top pumpkin in sunny Lemon Drop, the bottom one in warm Cider Glow, and let Garden Moss bring the vine and leaves to life. Merry Berry paints the little berries on either side.

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 Twilight Purple

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

No purple on your palette? You can mix your own. Swirl Twilight Plum, my Moonglow, with just a little Merry Berry, and you'll get a dusky purple that's perfect for the middle pumpkin.

I picked purple for the middle on purpose. Green would have been too much green with all the leaves, and the purple sits pretty between the yellow and the orange. Play with the amounts. More berry makes it warmer, and no two mixes will look exactly alike, which is exactly as it should be.

Paint These Stacked Pumpkins With Me

For this week's project, we'll paint three stacked pumpkins together from beginning to end.

We'll start with an easy outline, wash in loose watercolor layers using our Heart in the Vine colors, add the vine, the leaves and the berries, and finish with the little details. My favorite moment comes last: a tiny dot from a white pen on each red berry, for a little glimmer of light. It puts me right in the holiday mood.

And yes, there's a tiny heart in the vine too.

WATCH THE STACKED PUMPKINS WATERCOLOR TUTORIAL ON YOUTUBE:

No watercolor experience is necessary. You can trace the outline if you'd rather not draw the pumpkins 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.

Join Me at the Kitchen Table

If you'd like a new beginner-friendly watercolor project each Friday, you can get the Creative Heart Journal delivered free to your inbox.

You'll also receive my Whimsical Bird Trio watercolor tutorial as your welcome bonus.

Get the Free Creative Heart Journal here: https://creativewannabes.com/sign-up

Get my brand-new, Beginner Watercolor Supply Guide for free right here:
https://kitchentablecreativity.com/supplies

You can also join me for my free monthly online watercolor class:

Join My Free Watercolor Class here: https://kitchentablecreativity.com/free-workshop

And I'd love to have you in our Facebook community for women who are beginning watercolor:

Join Beginner Watercolor with Donna here: https://www.facebook.com/groups/beginnerwatercolorwithdonna

Frequently Asked Questions

Are stacked pumpkins hard to paint in watercolor?

No! A stack is one of the friendliest subjects for a beginner. It's mostly simple shapes: three wide, flat ovals, one on top of another. In this easy stacked pumpkins watercolor tutorial, we keep everything loose and whimsical, so wobbly lines just add charm.

What watercolor colors do I need for these stacked pumpkins?

I used my five-color November palette composed of Daniel Smith paints: Quinacridone Red, Hansa Yellow Light, Quinacridone Deep Gold, Undersea Green and Moonglow. You don't need these exact paints. Similar red, yellow, warm gold, green and dusky purple watercolors will work.

Do I need to know how to draw to paint this stack?

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 draw a perfectly proportioned stack.

How do you paint the purple middle pumpkin?

Mix it. Swirl Moonglow with a little Quinacridone Red until you get a dusky purple you like. I chose purple because green would have been too much green with the leaves, and purple sits pretty between the yellow and the orange.

How do you add the sparkle to the red berries?

With a white pen, after your paint is fully dry. One tiny dot on each berry gives it a little glimmer of light. It is a small thing, and it is the part everyone notices.

What if my pumpkins look wonky?

Good. Wonky becomes whimsical around here. A leaning pumpkin or a wobbly vine just gives your stack more personality.

This Week's Heart Practice

Today I stack small joys 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, thank the good things stacked up for you this week. The pumpkin patch visit. The kind word. The quiet ten minutes with a paintbrush in your hand.

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

Sometimes the smallest things, a flat little pumpkin, a few brushstrokes on paper, remind us of the many good things we might overlook.

You belong here!

With heart and color,

🩷 Donna