Gourd Artists

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Comment by Gloria Irla Marlow on February 7, 2013 at 11:21am

Well last night I finished the bodies of two Easter/spring baskets I'm making.  I sponged two greens, two pinks, white and a little blue onto the gourds.  One gourd #1 I swirled the colors with the sponge and just before they were dry wiped them off with a baby wipe leaving a swirly watercolor effect.  I added a little more lite sponging over that in limited amounts and let the whole thing dry.  Then I went over it with color pencil picking out sponged areas that might lend themselves to rose petals and did full and partial pink and white roses depending on the patterns the sponges left.

On gourd #2 I started the same way with the same colors but instead of responging, I went over it with a large fern shaped rubber stamp and using the greens, I painted the colors onto the stamp and  stamped the greens all over the gourd leaving areas of pink, white and blue showing through. This time I used acrylic paints and did very loose flower shapes all over the gourd looking a little like an impressionist wild flower garden. Back to the colored pencils to add a little depth to the flowers and now they are ready to be sealed and the basket reeds added to the top.  I dyed the basket reeds by putting acrylic paint in a sponge and just ran the reed through it until I got the color I wanted and put it aside to dry.  Took a little time and was messy but I have reeds that match the colors on my gourds gardens now.  I'll photograph them and post them as I finish them.

Comment by Gloria Irla Marlow on February 7, 2013 at 11:06am

You're so welcome.  Gourds are a lot of fun.  They have certainly expanded my artistic horizons.

Comment by Judy A. Wolfe on February 7, 2013 at 6:39am

Hi Gloria! Thank you for inviting me to join your group. I work with hard shell gourds too. I've worked in so many mediums over my years but when I started with gourds I found my passion. The ideas are unlimited, each piece is a new unique piece of art. I'm in my studio all day and only online early in the mornings. Thanks again. 

Comment by Gloria Irla Marlow on February 6, 2013 at 12:30pm

So this is my group.  Anyone have any questions about hard shelled gourds? What are they? What do you do with them? Can any gourd be hard shelled? (no) and where do you get those things?  Who came up with the whole idea and what the heck?  I have the answers to those questions and more.......