Painting gourds, my experience

Another one of my favorite things that I have used as a “canvas” is a large gourd, with a hole carved to accomodate little birdies. Supposedly they love to make houses in them. I’ve only had the opporunity to paint four or five of them, then I couldn’t locate the traveling gourd salesman again.

I used the exact same technique and materials as in painting the cans (see my post on “Creating art from tin cans”). I liked the gourds even better than the cans, as far as a surface to paint on. I’m not certain why; they’re extremely light-weight, easy to handle and turn as you’re painting, and they’re such an interesting shape. Of course there are many, many other varieties and sizes other than the ones I did, but I have not yet had the opportunity to paint any of the other types. A piece of advice: Always take photos of anything you create that you’re proud of, because I only have these few pictures, and I let the others get away without photographing them. And of course, it will always be your best work that gets away from you without a record of it ever having existed. These are the only pics I have:

If you see some of the creations that people have made from gourds, you will be blown away… Well, why don’t I show you some!

These next examples will be from some professional artists found throughout the world. We are not them. At least, myself, and those for whom this site is meant for, are not. We gather inspiration from them. Here, a creation called “The Face of the Wolf” by Denise Meyers. It is painted, wood burnt and inlaid with mother of pearl, malachite, turquoise and coral. It also sold for $2200.00. Amazing what a person can do with a gourd, is it not?

On the other end of the spectrum, here’s one available at one of those chain mega-stores for $35.00; the artist may have ended up with $10.00 if they were lucky. This is a perfect example of why there are so many starving artists here in the good old USA. Where do you think this might have been produced? China? India? Somewhere where $10.00 will go a lot further than it would here! I certainly couldn’t afford to spend the time to produce it for that price:

Here are some cheaper ones, produced in Peru…. these are about the same price for the set of two. Everybody wants to save the whales, the dolphins, the manatees, and so do I, but what about the starving artists in the U.S.A.? Let’s try to save them too, folks!

You get the general idea; there is a whole “gourd world” out there. Some people spend their lives doing this. Not a bad calling in life. I will continue to explore “gourd world”. There’s even an American Gourd Society, or something like that. Stay tuned!