All right folks! Screen this one please, it’s R-Rated, if you look closely. These are some very different pumpkin stencils than ones you may have used in the past, they’re quite a lot of fun, perfect for attracting certain kinds of people, and repelling other kinds of people, lol.
Unique, sexy, mischievous and pretty darn clever, these designs are easy to carve into any pumpkin you see fit.
Asher Slasher is our FIRST artist to offer pumpkin stencils of any kind, we think they’re a fabulous addition to our growing library of crafty downloads, enjoy!
Visit www.gothtober.com and click on DAY 17 to see animation by world famous animator, Christine Panushka! This piece is called “Greed” it involves some pumpkin-type character/creatures, and a certain dynamic that is all too familiar in today’s society. Perhaps this dynamic has always prevailed, but it does seem that lately it’s more pervasive. However, not to worry, as you can see, greed can only go so far, it has an end, just like everything else. But what happens next? Hmmmm!
This author (Head Candy Corn of Gothtober.com) would like to point out that Christine Panushka has been my mentor for 30 years. The guidance, patience, and teachings from Christine as my instructor and mentor over the years has helped me to be the artist I am today. With Christine’s support, I have grown up to lead and take part in projects that not only push my own quest to learn, but to delight in collaborations that help my fellow artists push themselves to make art.
I am not the only one who feels this way, there are hundreds of us. She has built armies of animators, instructors, artists, and film makers, so here’s a 21 Pumpkin salute from Gothtober to Panushka Power!
Day 16 of www.gothtober.com features the night antics of a couple of wayward ghosts on their way to somewhere else. The film is called “Terminus” having to do with the termination of life, along with the terminals we wait in while we’re taking whatever journeys both life and death require of us.
Shot in and around Vernon and 26th St. of Los Angeles, the ghosts make their way in and around the belly of the city. They go a-haunting among diesel engines, intermodal containers, and corridors of active and forgotten tracks.
Julianna Parr does Gothtober artwork under the guise of Danny Torrance, Ichabod Brains, and other pseudonyms. She is head Candy Corn of the Gothtober Countdown Calendar.
“Delicious autumn! My very soul is wedded to it, and if I were a bird I would fly about the earth seeking the successive autumns.” George Eliot
Somewhere in the southern hemisphere it’s Spring, but in the northern hemisphere, even though temperatures climb, we’re excited about even a hint of cool wind which would warrant eating something even remotely pumpkin-spice-oriented.
The daylight and the darkness have had their cup of tea, sitting just so on their tuffets, eyeballing each other’s portion of time allotted. Their exact point of equality won’t be here until September 25th, but still, the light bends, and on September 22nd we call it: It’s Fall!
Gothtober is always very excited about this autumnal arrival, the days officially begin to get shorter, we start madly gathering apples for all those pies we’re gonna make in our “spare time.” The Santa Ana Winds are tousling heads of hair all over the San Gabriel Valley, flinging up twigs and cactus spines and whatever other fun things it can throw in the air like “Wheeeee!” it goes. It’s that time of year where your allergies start to chill out, or they go into code red and you can’t go anywhere without tissues.
Tinkering late into the night, or during the mornings, or who even knows when, are all the Gothtober contributors, planning and checking their projects, preparing pieces of the calendar for you to see. As the watermelon moves over and the pumpkin waltzes in, anticipation builds for crisp apple cider, candy corn in bulk, and 31 days of Countdown Calendar joy.
Julianna Parr in foreground, Andrew Oropeza in the background
It’s a delicate yet urgent process, wrangling the pumpkins after each shoot!
The water is shallow, but Andrew’s thoughts are deep.
We wore crappy shoes so we could walk around in the river, you should try it, it’s really a lot of fun!
Today is a short film by Julianna Parr (me) about water, pumpkins, and one of LA’s secret havens: The Los Angeles River.
What you can see is pumpkins and the LA River. What you can’t see is the perilous task that is pumpkin wrangling IN the LA River.
It’s slippery, even if you have tread-laden shoes. But it’s beautiful, and it’s our river, and it was great fun slogging about, setting up shots with orange orbs in the middle of the day. One woman asked us if we were scared.
I’m not sure what she meant. Did she mean being in the LA water? Did she mean being scared of the urban environment? Was she inherently uneasy at the site of pumpkins not analogous to the surrounding landscape? I assured her that we were not scared. Maybe she meant flash floods? Flash floods are scary, and I made sure to check the forecast for any rain that would be happening up in Valencia or other places that could send a deluge of water our way, but the coast was clear.
It was sunny, breezy, clear and serene at the river. Pigeons were very curious about the project.
It’s true that after awhile, even something as exciting as an entire plate of fresh brain curds can get tiresome. Yuki steps in today to steer you gently away from the same old boring gourmet brains to try something a little different, even, dare I say, refined. You see, Halloween doesn’t have to be all foil-wrapped mini candy bars, nor does it have to be triangular-shaped tri-c0lored candies masquerading as maize.
Halloween can get highbrow, it can be nimble like pointy spider legs or the claw of a rat’s foot. No matter how thin you slice it, it’s still mystery meat and it might as well be delicious. Zombies might at first be a little confused by this sumptuous dish, but give it about 30 seconds, and their senses will be overcome with this delectable alternative to the customary brain dish they usually demand.
This recipe is actually vegetarian, but very far from vegan, it involves seasonally appropriate ingredients suitable for placating your Jekylls or your Hydes when hosting gatherings. If you enjoy decadence, this is your jam.
The recipe also calls for a “sugar pumpkin” which is different from your everyday pumpkin that you see in the bins sitting at the entrance of your local supermarket. The main difference is that “carving” pumpkins are grown specifically for that purpose, and are more hollow inside. Sugar pumpkins, on the other hand, are grown for their taste, thus they are smaller, sweeter, a bit darker in orange color and packed with pulp to be used for things like soups, muffins, pies and breads.
You can find GREAT sugar pumpkins out at Lombardi Ranch, which is a trek, but worth it for the petting zoo, bands, scarecrow alley and all of their other seasonal produce. Take a look at their calendar, and get there early if you decide to go on a weekend, it gets pretty crowded. You should also make sure you have a “corn on a stick” there, as they serve possibly the best I’ve ever eaten at their farm stand. I discovered Lombardi Ranch in 1990, and it’s my go-to pumpkin patch for family fun.
Another favorite, from what I’ve heard but not seen, is the Faulkner Farm Pumpkin Patch out in Santa Paula, which has hay rides, pony rides, face painting… and something called a “Pumpkin Chucker” which sounds very intriguing.
Other possible locations to find sugar pumpkins could be Trader Joe’s, Bristol Farms and Whole Foods. There you have it, now go get your sugar pumpkin and get cookin!
The step-by-step sketching process of illustrating the Gothtober 2012 interface, launching on our 10th Anniversary!
Eeeeeeaaauuuuuggghhhh!!! It’s GOTHTOBER TIME, we are LIVE!
Presenting another 31 selected autumn varietals for your discerning visual appetite, please visit www.gothtober.com this instant and tell me if you thought that scare crow stuck its tongue out at you. It did, right? (I hope so!)
More details about DAY 1 posted soon, but for now, let’s give a hat’s off to Jesse Albini, Cristin Pescosolido, Josh Fielstra and yes… me, because we were all clenching our butt cheeks getting this one out the door! There were technical difficulties, but thanks to quick thinking, ingenuity and common sense, you now have the calendar, and it’s time for the countdown!
Seen Here: Organic Canned Pumpkin, Pumpkin Butter, Pumpkin Pancake & Waffle Mix, Pumpkin Bread and (NEW!) Pumpkin Soup! Photo taken by Lori Meeker
The pumpkins are coming the pumpkins are coming!
No wait… the pumpkins are HERE! On Saturday, September 22, at 10:49am it will officially be Autumn! Our hours of daylight shall ever so sneakily begin to recede, and you will start to sense the cinnamon and clove scents in the air from the crazy “fall mania” that hits stores this weekend.
Leading the pack with a delicious assortment of fall pumpkin items is Trader Joe’s! No, they didn’t pay me to write this, it’s just great that you can go somewhere that won’t cost an arm and a leg to get yourself some easy-to-make pumpkin treats for all your equinox needs. It is absolutely NO JOKE that I went to a fancy culinary website to see how much their lil’ bag of pumpkin bread mix costs and almost lost my mind that it is a whopping $21.00. Who is fool enough to buy pumpkin bread that costs TWENTY ONE CLAMS?!?
I don’t care how many “roasted Texan pecans” are in the bag, that’s a hell of a return when you consider that Trader Joe’s pumpkin bread is only $2.99 and even if you purchase pecans separately at TJ’s you’re not going to get anywhere near $21.00!!!
Takes my breath away, land o’ goshen the times we live in, they’d sell you your eyeballs to you right out of your own head if you let them! Shop smart, dear consumer!
Anyway, stock your pantry this fall, get into your cords and dust off your light jacket, time to go a hunting for classic fall flavors like nutmeg, allspice and hot apple cider.
Gothtober’s crooked moon approaches and we want you to be in the pumpkin patch for our 10th Anniversary!
APPLICATIONS DUE AUGUST 29th, 2012 • Participants will be notified of admission by September 6th at the latest. Upon acceptance, a $25 registration fee is required.
2.) The Theme is “10” a.) The number 10 in some way (10 items on screen, 10 tips for severing fingers, 10 recipes, 10 sounds, just… 10, y’know? b.) OR you can ignore the “10” theme and make your piece all spooky, creepy, crazy, weirdy, autumny, candy, fun and freaky Halloween theme like the original Gothtober from 2003. There will be a lot of pumpkins in Gothtober’s design this year, so also… if you want to have your piece involve America’s favorite round orange squash, knock yourself out!
3.) More information on how to make a Gothtober piece is on our Gothtober FAQ
4.) All the latest news about Gothtober can be found right here on the Gothtober BLOG
5.) And of course… if you want to gain inspiration from Gothtober itself, visit GOTHTOBER!
