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.
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.
Fall leaves with stippling color on the outer edge.
Combining the colors creates a lifelike effect I love.
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.)
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.
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.
Interior view of Fall window painting - pumpkins
Slim Scarecrow from the inside of the wireless shop
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.
I have terribly neglected My Christmas Paintbrush page and I have to be remiss if I did not step in and post a why!?
I have been sidetracked in writing my book and most recently, Spring and Summer gardening, one of my other, dear to my heart, passions. (I really should punctuate that with an exclamation point as all of my friends on Facebook and Instagram get updates on my herb and veggie garden at least... every other day.)
My Puny Poinsettia
I was on a journey with the growing things. I felt if I really wanted to understand poinsettias and other leafy creatures in my art realm it was most certainly necessary to help bring them to life through seed and start (impossible for a poinsettia), dedicate time to water and nurture them, and tend to them when the seasons wafted in and away. My only sickly poinsettia is actually a dollar store find and I have managed to almost kill it at least three dozen times. It recently found shelter behind my green grape vine and appears to be thriving at the moment.
I cooed in delight when I found this tiny plant in the store and set it on my table to enjoy its lovely color and shape that first winter. It had spotted flower centers touched in yellow and dashes of red. The leaves above were lovely, bright scarlet and the under leafy bracts were lovely shades of dark and lighter green. The leaves had a vein to them here and there in even spacing. The stems an odd slight turn and a noteable bow in small increments. The lively plant thing began to fade soon into the holidays and drop a few leaves and I adjusted it to the new life it would live here by removing the fancy paper around the pot and setting it where it would not find a draft. There it went on to live, Plain, plant life. A spent decoration.
Poinsettias are nice houseplants if you do not have a rowdy bunch of kittens or tumbling kids around knocking things about and being occasionally clumsy. The sharp looking leaves and small branches are delicate and destroy easily, dripping a sticky, milky substance upon everything around them if broken. They are reported to be poisonous, but I have never dared to doubt the claim. It looks like poison coming out of the stem, so I mind my creatures and small persons carefully and place the plant out of reach and bump. During warmer months, this tender plant stays in shady areas in my herb bed, but when chill threatens it comes back inside where it can stay toasty warm.
Some magical Christmas I shall find the right combination of light to bring out the colors on this plant, but for now I am content to use its shapes and curves as inspiration for my already favorite paintings, namely, the poinsettias I do every Christmas time on the window panes of my clients. During these times this song always sticks in my ear as do the other Carols of the season.
Browse the archives for now or step over to my site and learn more about this art form and the delight it brings both artist and admirer.
Gotta love those Christmas critters! These are the penguins I painted several years ago. Snow play is a popular scene in window painting themes. Whether you are using animals or people, dressing up a window with snow scenes using paint can be a great substitute for the real thing. Here you see three birds in their winter gear enjoying the slopes and taking time out to play and linger for the holidays. The names are the owner's pets. I love the trees in this scene and the look on penguin Montego's face. He certainly looks like he is having a good time. The advantage of this art is it is original. The scene will be removed after the first of the year come January. I am grateful I had a disposable camera with me when I finished the painting or I would not have this image design to share with you now.
Buy a good camera to bring with you. After the painting is finished, snap several shots from angles to the right, left, full center and from far away. If you have a lot of glass left on the window after you have painted, watch the glare from the flash mode with your camera. You will need to step to one side or the other to avoid having the flash wash out the picture. Choose good lighting in the afternoon for the best quality images.
Get close ups of the details so that you may mark this down in your drawing and image journal. Note which details to keep and which to repeat again. Although this particular image will not be painted again unless I repeat in similar fashion, it can be used as inspiration for future window paintings.
Snow playing penguins - window painting
Santa Claus Paintings
Santa is another great image to alter and paint doing things other than over seeing the toy shop or making the rounds on Christmas Eve. I have him in all sorts of situations. Below the scene shows him having his hair cut by the local North Pole barber elf. I think the elf is doing a fine job of it. The little guy is perched carefully on a ladder and doing his best to trim Santa up for the big night. Santa has to look right and I think he is happy with his barber. What do you think? I think I am again glad I had a good camera with me to preserve this image!
Santa At the North Pole Barber Shop(1)
Santa At the North Pole Barber Shop (2) closeup
Getting the details saved from this scene took a bit of editing so I could look a bit closer at the whole image. With the smirk on Santas face and the elf, I can repeat this one with more details at a later date. Preserve as much of your art as you can. It is temporary and will be disappearing after the New Year. This is something you must get used to if you want to paint for the holidays.
.jpg "Santa At The North Pole Barber Shop - window painting image by M Burgess")