Art Project - Kusama Style Pumpkin Painting
The brilliant artist Yayoi Kusama is known for her polka dots, infinity rooms and pumpkins. We have put together a quick and easy art project to create a painting in the style of one of her iconic spotty pumpkins. To view a time-lapse video of this project head to our Instagram feed.
Materials
Pencil
Eraser
Paper - use watercolour paper for best results
Black Waterproof Marker Pen
Black and Yellow Watercolour or Gouache Paint
Method
Pumpkin Drawing Template - Free to use
Use a pencil to sketch a simple outline drawing of a pumpkin on your paper. Make sure to include a few indented ridges, called ribs, in your pumpkin drawing. For this art project include 5 pumpkin ribs (one central rib and two smaller ones to the side of it), and a small section of the pumpkin stem at the top the pumpkin. You can use our pumpkin template (above) if you need some help with the pumpkin shape.
When you are happy with the pumpkin sketch, tidy up any mistakes with the eraser.
Outline the sketch with a waterproof marker pen, or with waterproof ink, to create a stylised pumpkin drawing in black ink. Make sure it’s dry before moving on to the next stage.
Use the yellow paint to fill in all the rib sections of the pumpkin. Don’t paint the stem of the pumpkin. Leave the painting to fully dry.
Use black paint to create the spots on the pumpkin. Starting with the middle rib section of the pumpkin, use black paint to create a vertical row of dots in the middle of the section. Aim for this row of dots to take up about 1/3 of that section (rib) of the pumpkin.
In the same rib section, paint two vertical rows of smaller black dots, one to each side of the first column of dots. Aim for these black spots to be about half the size of the first spots. The rows are not straight but follow the shape of the pumpkin rib.
Then use black paint to create another two vertical rows of even smaller dots, one on each side of the previous columns. These final rows of small dots can be very near the edge of the rib section. Now the whole middle rib of the pumpkin should be filled with dots.
The next part sounds more complicated than it is, but bear with us as it’s a useful thought experiment. Take a moment to imagine that your pumpkin drawing is an actual real 3D pumpkin. To complete the painting all the ribs of the pumpkin would be painted exactly as above. BUT as this is a 2D drawing of a 3D pumpkin, you will have to use your imagination to visualise what part of the pumpkin you can see from your perspective. Keep this in mind when you move on the the next steps.
Now paint black spots on the pumpkin ridges adjacent to the middle rib. Near the outer edge of the rib section, away from middle, paint a row of large black spots (similar size to step 5). Next to them, moving towards the middle of the pumpkin paint a row of smaller spots (similar size to step 6). Moving even further towards middle and the other side of the pumpkin rib, paint a row of even smaller dots (similar size to step 7). Repeat this step for both rib sections adjacent to the middle one.
Finish by painting black spots in the two outer ribs. Start at the outer edge of the outer rib section and paint a row of semi circles, following the shape of the pumpkin edge (similar size to step 5 but semi circular). Next to them, moving towards the middle of the pumpkin, paint a row of smaller spots (similar size to step 6). Moving even further towards the middle and other side of the pumpkin rib, paint a row of even smaller dots (similar size to step 7). Repeat this step for both the outer rib sections.
To finish off add some small black dots to the stem of the pumpkin.
Leave to dry and your Kusama Style pumpkin painting is finished!
Variations
Make the pumpkin bigger with more rib sections
Use different colours combinations
Create an interesting pattern around the pumpkin
Create lots of these pumpkin paintings to create a Kusama style ‘infinity’ room of spotty pumpkins.