The Tale of Some Whimsical Pumpkin Art...And a Cosy Halloween Collection...

White Pumpkin Line-and-Wash Sketch

Hello there, and hope you're well, and ready for some whimsy, amidst it all.

This week's tale starts innocently enough with a white pumpkin, that I sketched last weekend (see above), before it made its journey into soup. Or so I thought.

"Pumpkin Surprise" Number One

For a start, the pumpkin, despite being round, did not "play ball," as expected. (For which read, "I was completely unable to slice through it neatly like butter-as per celebrity chef demos, etc- to make said soup". Or at all, really). The resulting roasted "pumpkin crisps/chips" that I had been able to hack desperately from its unyielding sides *were* delicious, though. They just ended up in a hastily-re-arranged veg soup, instead.

And last Monday,  that was the fun anecdote with which I thought I'd introduce this sketch this week and have a short post. But, oh, no...

"Pumpkin Surprise," Number Two

The pumpkin had other ideas. This image wiggled and jiggled in my mind until I made it into a downloadable card sheet, which has a card front that can end up like this:

Click or tap here to browse or buy the
download sheet that makes this card front...

And along with the pretty "Pumpkin Polka Dots," background, I thought *that* would be it. 

And it seemed fair, because I haven't posted much for craft-loving people recently, who I know drop in here. If that's you, you might also like the 20% off sale on many of my Halloween and autumnal designs at Craftsuprint this week. As I don't know when you'll be reading this, I don't know whether it will have ended, but it's due to run until the end of September 2025).

But, in any event, that wasn't all. Cue:

Pumpkin Surprise Number Three

The pumpkin polka dots were now dancing around in my mind. And made their way onto Spoonflower, for a fabric and wallpaper outing.

As a final twist, somehow everything for a cosy autumnal Halloween collection (for who wants an extra-scary one right now anyway? Not me. And if you like whimsy and nature, I'm guessing maybe not you either) came together.

Anyway, I digress, because the "Cosy Halloween Mini Collection" (featuring pumpkins, black cats, golden leaves and gentle "flower of life," geometrics), is *also* available now.

Cosy Halloween Collection at Spoonflower,
by Clare Walker shown
demonstrating Spoonflower's
 "12 napkins" template.

The image above was created using one of Spoonflower's template makers. In this case, how a collection of 12 napkins might look using the fabrics in the mini-collection.

Warning: Spoonflower's template design tool also includes cheater quilts, infinity scarves and other delights and is mildly addictive, even if, like me, you've never personally sewn a quilt. You can give it a go with this collection by tapping or clicking on  this link.

And now?

And now, yes, finally, those white pumpkins seem to have found all their right place, living happily ever after. Sometimes, you just have to go with what the designs seem to want, rather than logical plans.

If you've read down this far-thanks so much, and have a wonderful week.

More soon.

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New Painting: Autumn Glory

"Autumn Glory" by Clare Walker
Click or tap here to browse or buy.
(There's no watermark on purchased items :-))

Hello there

As ever, I hope life is treating you well, whether it's autumn, spring, or neither of those seasons making their way into your corner of the world at the moment. 

Here it is autumn, complete with cool winds, and a sudden need for soups and stews.  And although our neighbour's silver tree hasn't quite reached the stage you see in the picture above yet, I have so many memories, photographs and previous attempts to draw upon, the time just felt right to give this another go. The result has made its way into my collection of images for sale at Pixels.Com.

A little bit more info about my art on Pixels/Fine Art America

In a previous post, I did the best I could to explain why most of my images will be there as we move forward. As a result of that, lots of questions have been asked, so I'll do my best to answer them here.

1. No, not all my previous art is there (yet). But if you like a specific picture from the past, you can ask me to put it up there, (eg with my new contact form). This is what someone did this week for my "Nasturtiums," which are now also available on Pixels:

https://pixels.com/featured/autumn-glory-vibrant-autumnal-tree-clare-walker.html

2. Yes, my designs are available on other items as well as prints, eg stickers, greeting cards and even jigsaws...

But please be aware that not all items may be manufactured locally to you (there is a map here which explains this point better than I can).

3. Yes, you can change the currency to one more local to you if your device isn't showing the one you need. Just scroll right down to the bottom of any page of Pixels/Fine Art America to where it says "Location Settings".

4. The site with my designs on it is hosted, run and administered by Pixels,Com/Fine Art America. (If  I were to run anything myself, nothing would ever get painted). But it is one of the few ways in which I can display a clear collection of my own items to you, whilst still being paid royalties when items sell, and not having my items jumbled with everyone else's (something people have talked about a lot, in the past).

5. Despite it not being my shop (and therefore, my not having much control over anything except wall-art prices), I still keep being asked questions. I've done my best to answer them here. But the real people who can answer them better are probably the Pixels/Fine Art America team, whose contact page is here.

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 One way or another, I hope these answers help and may inspire you to want to purchase a yummy item or two...

On that note, I'll leave you for now, with another pic of "Autumn Glory," after what's been a lot of words (even for me):

Thanks for being here, for your support, and for reading down this far. You're amazing.

More soon.

New Painting: Turning the Corner

Hello there

Hope life is treating you well. But if you're in need of some peace, relaxation and whimsy, then this week's new painting may be just the thing.

"Turning the Corner"
Click or tap here
to comment or find out more...

This came about very quickly, to capture a golden September moment in the park, when vibrant flowers were still bursting through railings (all the brighter after rain)...And the sun seemed ever brighter just around the corner (hence the title: "Turning the Corner").

The links above will take you to this specific painting, within my new online shop.

That "just moving in feeling,"

 

Truthfully, I still have that "just moving in feeling," in relation to the shop.

But my aim is (finally!) to have all my designs for sale in one place (as people have asked me to do many times. This will give a lot more time for actually making art (yay!) whilst also  making life 50 times easier for you and other lovely people actually to find designs you like.

There'll be much more on this in the weeks and months ahead. But for now, it's all going well. And have just discovered that yes, I *can* still offer you greeting cards designed specifically for that purpose, but based on a particular painting.

The first of these is today's painting...

Tap or click here to shop for
"Turning the Corner," greeting cards

It made sense to start here, because there are so many occasions on which you might send a card to someone who's turned a corner in their life...Or just to cheer them up with some relaxing whimsy.

Maybe I've turned a corner too, and am starting to feel at home in my art's new home as well :-).

Thanks so much for being here. Please watch this space...

More soon.

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Relaxing With The Caterpillars...

Humming-Bird Hawk Moth Caterpillar Mixed Media Sketch

Hello there

Hope you are thriving (and doing exactly the amount you do or don't want to do at the moment).

For my own part, I meant to do so much, and yet, somehow...

Here's the thing. This August feels so *pressured* for some reason. Maybe it's all self-imposed, or maybe you can relate?

Anyway, there were *so* many things I meant to do this week. To present to you, and to to help you with. (Yes, I see you, honestly, all the people to whom I've been promising more YouTube videos since forever...). 

And then there's that "tariff" word...

As you'll know if you've spent any time here, I do my very, very best to avoid politics here altogether. If you love happy and whimsical art, you're welcome here, and that's that.

But as the elephant has made its way into our actual room here, it feels like there's little choice but to say something.

To anyone worried about tariffs affecting their shopping for my designs, my best answer so far (after hours of searching, and-unsurprisingly-very little previous knowledge of international trade) goes like this: 

"Everyone's geographical situation is different, so my trying to say anything here (or even steer all my designs into one place) wouldn't help a bit, and might make things worse. Please just get to know what's best for you personally, wherever you are, and I'll do my very best to accommodate that if I can, in considering in which shops to place designs."

Luckily...

Luckily, online downloads remain easy to access wherever you are, as far as I know... (I'll be introducing new items to my Craftsuprint shop soon, for that very reason).

So, obviously...

So, obviously, the only thing to do in response to all this weirdness was... to hang out with the caterpillars. :-)

For context, we had had  a humming-bird hawk moth visit our window boxes a couple of weeks ago. She was verrry interested in a particular plant with "pinwheel" leaves that was growing rather rampantly in our box we dedicated to wild flowers a few years back.

(I say "was" growing rampantly, because six caterpillars make incredibly short work of an awful lot of leaves. Which, in our case, suited us just fine, and probably saved us a lengthy autumn tidying/weeding session :-).

And so it came about that our enticement to live in the moment once more has come, this week, from an insight into the not-so-tiny and voraciously-eating lives of six fat caterpillars. Who I strongly suspect may have been the inspiration for the Very Hungry Caterpillar young children's board book by the late, great, Eric Carle (Affiliate link proudly placed to leading to the book back there. Because who doesn't love a book that-as far as I remember- has pages  actually *designed* to look munched?)

Artistic License?

I'll keep you posted if we see anything progressing with these really now rather large creatures (1.5 inches each at least, and growing by the day).

In the meantime, in the interests of accuracy, I'll close with The Computer Man's photo of one of these beings, so that you can see that I have liberally used artistic license, in giving them extra and wider pink feet, and, um...eyes.

Hummingbird Hawk Moth Caterpillar
 (Photo by Jim Fernbank).

The funny thing is, despite everything going on in the world, a few minutes of "caterpillar watching", really *is* incredibly calming. Who knew?

And with that, I'll leave you to your day.

Thanks so very much for being here, *and* for reading down this far.

More soon.

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A New Floral Painting (And A Very, Very, New Option)

"Euphorbia River" Painting by Clare Walker
Available at Pixels.Com

Hello there

Hope all's well and happy for you.

Here, as you see, there's a lot that's new here. Firstly, the "Euphorbia River", above.

The story behind it

I have to give huge thanks to my friend and very-talented-photographer-in-her-own-right, Marilyn Doyle, that this painting ever even happened.

She shared tales of a happy afternoon. And I was so transfixed by her photograph:

Photo by Marilyn Doyle, used here
and as a reference with her permission.

that I immediately asked if I could use it as a reference...and found myself with a completed painting in an afternoon, pretty much, (if you come here often, you'll know how rare that is).

So, just enormous thanks to Marilyn for such an inspiring photo, and for the use of your photo here on the blog too. (I would link to her as well, but she doesn't have a website as far as I know).

I mention this all here because I really want Marilyn to get the credit she deserves. And because it's an unusual story behind the "Echinacea Euphorbia River" painting...And because I've already wondered whether these are echinacea (coneflower) or rudbeckia flowers...Or even something else...

Going on their cone shape, and the large prickly seedheads in the middle...I'm sticking with the Echinacea/Coneflowers. But the debate is on, if you want it to be...I'm about to start it on Instagram.

Update on Aug 9th: Have just remembered a great thing about the new shop for your browsing and buying pleasure ;-)...You can *comment* below images. Yay! If you have an idea about what these are, please comment here. Many thanks!

Update on August 10th 2025: Have just discovered that the original flowers may have been Euphorbias.
Really not sure what to do about this yet. Update on September 13th: The title of this painting is now..."Euphorbia River". You live and learn :-).

Hang on a minute. What about this new option thingy?

Ah yes, the new offerings via Pixels.Com/FineArtAmerica. Just in case you're thinking that I may have gone out of my mind to launch this idea on a Friday evening in August at the bottom of a post about something else... Well, yes, I might.

But this isn't false  modesty or anything. It's just the softest possible "launch" (those quotation marks are working particularly hard, there :-) ), so that I can keep everyone whose been such a support in the loop, whilst still being able to correct inevitable mistakes as we discover them.

There will be more on this, I promise. And with that, thanks as ever for reading this far, and for your support...and have a lovely weekend.

More soon.
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