

A walk in the pumpkin patch for our child to embrace nature and for us to collect pumpkins for cooking, also created something marvelous. These days with our daughter, family, and friends inspired my new series of paintings, “Pumpkins 2024.” I wanted to incorporate the absolute joy of wonder experienced when we watched our daughter explore the fields, run her fingers through the dirt, watch bees work doing their magic, and choose her first pumpkin of the season. We were fortunate to have her Godmother, also her auntie, visit and help her choose this pumpkin two years in a row! The Pumpkin Patch is more than just holiday joy for us, we choose the best pumpkins we can find for baking and cooking. Art is about trying new things and reaching outside the lines of being boxed in. Each year the soup, scones, and whatever else we make with the pumpkins, all taste entirely different. Making mistakes always creates happiness in this home. While watching children explore and wonder, I went into a whimsical world myself. We ended up finding some really great pumpkins this year and the paintings represent the actual pumpkin with a twist to leave every viewer pondering. What do you see in these pumpkins? What do they make you think about?





The colors are vastly different and make me think of the leaves changing and Fall arriving in the forest. Watching the leaves fall to the ground to become compost for new life is fascinating. The orange hues and accents of browns throughout this season bring warm thoughts and make me think about the sun. I added yellow to each pumpkin in order to represent sunlight. My husband pointed out how the leaves were wilting in the sun and would perk back up at night when the weather cooled. The one thing about living in the desert is the heat. It almost feels year round these days. The Pumpkin Patch at Gilcrease Orchard was very warm by nine and ten o’clock in the morning. We love going to Gilcrease because it is very family friendly and they have wonderful food, along with a live band on the weekends. Going as early as possible is the best time to beat the heat and crowds of people if you would like to get those awesome family photos every year. I will be writing more about the Orchard and our experiences while spreading joy with this new series in the next few blog posts. Thank you all for reading and I hope you have a Marvelous Monday! Spread that sunshine!!
-Karen Hilliard