The Harvest season is here and with it comes delightful Fall Window Splash paintings. While farmers are collecting the last fruits of their fields, many are preparing for the upcoming holidays.
We are all digging out our warm sweaters and raking dried leaves from our front yards. The seasonal weather brings a nice change in visual taste with the colors of the trees and the crisp air.
It is a time to ready the home for winter and think about that shopping list. Are we planning that Thanksgiving meal already and do we have a family event in the works? Decorating is part of that overall scene and the characters I like to invite into the season have just arrived.
Trixie Turkey was developed when I drew a flyer for a barbeque restaurant years ago. He is a fully feathered, sweet faced bird with a strong sense of holiday cheer. He has avoided the platter for many years to share the greeting of the season. This year he is modeling a hiring sign.
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Window Splash Painting - Trixie Turkey Hiring Sign
No, I am not hiring, but this wireless store on N Decatur in Las Vegas is. |
Pumpkins and corn, wheat and dried leaves grace the corners and open spaces in a Fall window splash. They are a nice tie in for the scenes that dominate the main theme. Deciding on a color for outline was perplexing for me as I usually use black for the job. For this painting, I alternated black, browns, and yellows to add a festive touch to the Fall window paintings.
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Fall leaves with stippling color on the outer edge.
Combining the colors creates a lifelike effect I love. |
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| It is Fall so naturally pumpkins are included in the decorating theme |
My Fall themed scarecrow, Slim, was developed last season when I painted this handsome fellow on a residential window set. Slim's white shirt is a dedication to my days as a limo driver where I wore one with a suit and tie day in and day out. (I now drive taxi.)
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| Slim Scarecrow poses casually for the camera. |
Slim is accompanied by his nemesis and pal, Naughty Bird who waits for Slim to turn his head and watchful eye so he can dip into the corn and wheat fields for a quick snack. Crows and blackbirds are always a threat to grain fields which is why scarecrows are often present in farm fields and gardens. They are naughty, little fiends hence the name Naughty Bird.
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| Naughty Bird waiting for a chance at that juicy corn |
Blocking in the base colors when setting up a window splash allows a certain character to the window painting. The reverse painting is as alive as the front when I paint. I attempt to add texture with my brushstrokes which creates a work of art more than just a decoration. The pumpkins were painted with an up and down stroke then set with a side to side brush motion to give them a bit of form. I have often been complimented on the images that the store keepers see from the interior view. They look as good from the back as they do the front. It has taken me many years to achieve this technique.
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| Interior view of Fall window painting - pumpkins |
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| Slim Scarecrow from the inside of the wireless shop |
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| Trixie Turkey in reverse |
There are many tips and tricks I could share here, but it would take at least a week to type it all in. Learn about how I started off as a window painter in my teens and what I would like to share with a beginning window artist in
The Essential Window Painting Guide. It can be found on my author's site as a PDF file download or in Amazon as a print or Kindle book.
Thank you for stopping by and Happy Thanksgiving, early. May the season bring you many delights and good foods for your table.
