Watercolor Pumpkin Plate

Sep 4, 2025
2 min read

Updated: Sep 9, 2025

Paint a charming Watercolor Pumpkin Plate with layered washes, blended fall tones, and delicate outlines. Step-by-step instructions guide you to achieve a soft, hand-painted watercolor effect.

Supplies

Squircle Plate

Fan Brush

Liner Brush

Round Brush

Pencil

Marker

Tissue Paper

Colors

Polar Bear or Not Quite White

Black Lab

Orange Crush

Mocha Fudge

Old Yeller

Pea Soup

Mash

Instructions

Apply 3 coats of Polar Bear or Not Quite White with a soft fan brush to the top side of the plate, going over the edge. Then with a pencil, trace your template onto your tissue paper.
Once the Polar Bear or Not Quite White is dry, place your tissue paper with the template on it onto your plate and center your design. Use the water-based marker to re-trace the template onto the plate. The marker will bleed through the tissue paper onto the plate. The marker will burn off in the kiln.
Use a round brush and water down some Old Yeller. Apply a watery coat to the pumpkin. Try to leave a small space where the lines in the pumpkin are so you don’t have to retrace the template. Let it dry.
Squirt out a little Orange Crush onto your pallet. Water it down and apply a watery coat to your pumpkin on top of the old yeller. Leave some Old Yeller showing. Once the Orange Crush is dry, repeat this step with the Mocha Fudge - refer to the photo for color placement.
Try not to be too perfect – the beauty of a watercolor is to allow the colors to run into each other. Try to keep the Mocha Fudge near the template lines. Having the darker colors near the template lines will help maintain the shape and detail of your pumpkin.
Once the last coat is dry, apply one watery coat of Pea Soup to the vines and leaves. Repeat this step with the color MASH so that you have dark and light green on the leaves and stem.
Once dry, add some watered-down Mocha Fudge to the area where the stem is growing out of the pumpkin. Then use a Black Lab writer bottle or liner brush to outline everything. Try to keep the lines thin. Holding the bottle sideways will help keep your lines thin. They should look scattered & broken (not one continuous solid line) – this will enhance the watercolor look.