Octoberfest

I attended a fun Octoberfest event at The Petroleum Club in Long Beach a couple of weeks ago. There was food, music, the Chicken Dance, and me doing face painting and selling pumpkins.

I had no idea how the night would be but it turned out to be a great event, and I sold out of all but one of my pumpkins. Yea!

Here are some more photos:

A little ghostie

A squinty eyed pirate skull being grabbed by a mummy hand. Oooo, scary!

A red Reaper, a pretty witch, Jack, and some ghostly love

A closer look at the pretty witch with a kitty draped around her neck

I dream of Genie

This beauty of a pumpkin features a Genie, or Djini if you prefer the traditional spelling. The djinn are mythical beings from the middle eastern tradition and are elemental creatures like fairies or gnomes and are often associated with fire which is why she is dressed all in red with red hair.

My genie is leaning up against a winged camel. I painted this pumpkin for my friend Merry, a lovely friend of mine who owns Merry's Fashion With Passion, a world clothing and jewelry store in Long Beach, CA. (visit Merry's website http://www.merrys.biz/). Merry has a really cool camel that she puts out in front of her shop, so I couldn't think of anyone else who would appreciate a flying camel more than she would!

If you're anywhere near Merry's on Broadway near Temple Ave in Long Beach, Ca, do yourself a favor and stop in. You'll find the most amazing shop full of gorgeous clothing, jewelry, and accessories from Turkey, India, Israel, Egypt, and all the East. Merry treats everyone like she's known you forever, which makes it easy to become fast friends. You'll love her, I guarantee it! Tell her Monica sent you.

Another Jack & Sally

Everyone loves Jack & Sally from the Nightmare Before Christmas! I've been painting them in the same way for a couple of years and have become bored with it, so I found some different Jack & Sally poses that I like.

Here J & S are having a bit of a dance, surrounded by white hearts with black swirls in them. Cute, huh?

This photo is from an Octoberfest event I attended in Long Beach at The Petroleum Club, a venerable old special events venue. The organizers were really nice and I sold out of pumpkins very quickly. I hope they have me back next year!

Owl Elf

What a lovely elf girl, cuddling her cute sleepy little owl.

This pumpkin is not as bright and shiny as most of them because it has no acrylic coating. Alas, after working so hard on this design I noticed a little break in the skin on the bottom of the pumpkin which means it is going to rot. Bummer! I guess I'll get to enjoy it myself until it goes too bad to keep it. Maybe I'll try it again on a better gourd so I can sell it to someone who will love it.

Reaper Dude

This grim reaper's cowl was a fun challenge! Blending the acrylic paint from white to grey to black in layers was a tough one to figure out. I like how creepy he turned out. Little kids have had a strong reaction to this pumpkin when I have taken it out for display and sale. They seem to want to touch it, but they are also scared of it. Hmmmm, I guess I did a good ob of making this Reaper Dude creepy.

Cute socks!

Cute little sparkly purple witch and her black cat, all ready to make somebody's Halloween extra fun! I hope she and her striped socks and pointy boots find a good home with someone before the witching hour.

Ghostie Love

Cute little ghosts are a big seller with the under 5 crowd. It's Halloween, but sweet, not scary.

Looks like love really IS forever for these two.

The Caped Crusader

Da na na na na na na, Batman, Batman, Batman!

Gosh, that suit gives Bruce Wayne great abs. This is for my friend's son who is a Batman fanatic. This kid has dressed up as Batman to trick-or-treat for 3 of his 6 years. Now that's fandom.

Spongebob

Who doesn't love SpongeBob? I painted this for my friend's 3 year old, who loves SpongeBob and the whole gang from Bikini Bottom.

I'm not much for drawing cartoon characters so I am happy with how well this turned out.