In my 11th consecutive year of entering the Pumpkinmasters carving contest, this is the pumpkin that finally won me the Grand Prize! Inspired by the ravens at the Tower of London, I think it represented my most effective use of textures to date.

“Faces” is the only Pumkinmasters category in which I have never won a prize. This pumpkin was my latest unsuccessful attempt to rectify that situation.

I only carved one pumpkin this year (but I still won the Pumpkinmasters “Animals” category! Woohoo!) I created the pattern by tracing over a photo of an owl.

Every now and then I try to go in an uncharacteristic direction with a simple, yet compelling design. Simple isn’t really my strong suit, so they’re generally not all that good. This one is no exception. I would characterize it as mediocre at best. Even the progression of notes is dull, both visually and aurally.

Generally, I’m not a big fan of the pumpkins that define an object by silhouetting it against the moon. I think it’s overdone and simplistic enough that it usually indicates a poor command of the medium. But I did it anyway. And apparently it was good enough to win first prize in the Pumpkinmasters “Animals” category.

I actually bought the sheet music to Dance Macabre in the interests of verisimilitude. Unfortunately, the first several measures (which is about all I could fit on a pumpkin) are really quite boring.

This is my second attempt to create a circus-based pumpkin. I was trying to create a dynamic composition, juxtaposing the undulating curve of the roller coaster with the self-contained unity of the circular, be-skulled ferris wheel. It didn’t really work, though. Especially with the big flag, it wound up looking very static and uninteresting. I guess I’ll have to try again.

I didn’t come up with the epitaphs. I copied them off the internet. I think I expended too much effort of the legibility of the text and not enough on the atmosphere of the graveyard.

I’m not sure why I even bothered to carve this pumpkin, considering that I had just carved a much better one with four tombstone inscriptions. It might have made sense if I had taken advantage of the more focused subject matter to include more of the detail and texture of the tombstone, but I didn’t. Even the font is boring.

I think I did pretty well with the dramatic perspective on this one, but I wish I had put more effort into creating more realistic rats.