#funky lights

Portrait commission for MiravDerg on FA. I rarely do cityscapes but I'm very happy with how this came out.

This year I went for a classic Jack-O-Lantern carving style with my pumpkin, since I was sharing the experience with my Fulfillment Fund mentee student, Rosemary. She had never carved a pumpkin before so I aimed to keep the whole experience low-key and accessible for her.

We visited a patch in West Hollywood where, in typical Hollywood style there as a paparazzi section near the front where the men with long lenses were cordoned off into one area allowing publicity whores to engage with them if they wanted, or search for the perfect pumpkin with their family in private beyond the grasp of their lens. We only found two excellent pumpkins, no celebrities.

Knowing I shouldn't send a teenager home with an open flame candle snagged an electric candle and moved on to pumpkin carving, where I did entrust her with a knife to cut off the top - thankfully without any blood drawn. The carving process itself was really fun and easy. She is a creative kid whole had done a bit of research in advance, picking a googly-eyed image she wanted to replicate on her pumpkin. The results were excellent, for both of us.

Before wrapping up the project we each took turns putting our pumpkin in a room with no light and saw how it looked when illuminated by the electric candle. I expected it to produce a simple white or orange glow, maybe with a twitch to give it the impression of being a real candle. But no, this was a disco pumpkin light! We were SO thrilled at this unexpected development and loved the affect on the pumpkins.