Our entire family enjoyed our recent visit with the gourd art enthusiasts in Effington County, Georgia. The girls ran off some energy in the wide open spaces at Turkey Branch Gourds farm. C.L. and Willene Arnsdorff sent them home with one professonally painted apple motif gourd birdhouse, plus two cleanly scrubbed gourds ready for painting.Once home, I tried scrubbing the outside of the gourds again, for good measure. But they had long since been cleaned of the mold that aging gourds get while they dry. We decided to decorate the gourds intact and not risk breathing the dried, powdery insides that could be dangerous to the girls. Charlene Durrence had warned us about that.
We pulled out some washable tempera poster paints that we already had at home. It made for a fun morning of creative gourd decorating.
It's nice to think that a cured gourd should last much, much longer than the fresh pumpkins we decorate in the fall. I wonder how many children's art programs have used gourds as a canvas instead of imported, synthetic art materials? Since gourds can be grown in all shapes and sizes, the creative possibilities are endless! More about gourd art at this link.
It's nice to think that a cured gourd should last much, much longer than the fresh pumpkins we decorate in the fall. I wonder how many children's art programs have used gourds as a canvas instead of imported, synthetic art materials? Since gourds can be grown in all shapes and sizes, the creative possibilities are endless! More about gourd art at this link.
