The Carving Conundrum

I carve elaborate jack-o-lanterns every year. I used to get tremendous joy out of it. I have a lifelong love of Halloween, perhaps stemming from the fact that it's my mom's birthday. Being something of a sculptor, I delighted in wowing friends and neighbors every year with my carved creations. Often, in recent years, I would take so much time with a jack that the pumpkin would begin to turn mushy before I could finish. I began to be bothered by the transient nature of the medium. Sure, I could take tons of pictures and show them off online and people still thought they were cool, but I found myself feeling less and less motivated with each piece, even when I get paid for them. I think I'm just getting tired of it. I'd rather spend that precious time leading up to Halloween with my digital creations.

Well, I've already picked out seven pumpkins this year (a part of the process that's never been much fun for me) and I'm committed on at least one carving. And so carve I will. But I think most of the jacks are just going to get hacked out so I can enjoy that burning pumpkin smell while I'm working on what I'd rather be working on. It's kind of sad but it makes sense to me. My mom has been dead for years. There aren't many trick-or-treaters here, these days, and a language barrier prevents most of them from inquiring about my jack-o-lanterns, anyway. I can always get my jacks exhibited but that just means more people wanting me to carve jacks for them than I can possibly handle. I don't know why I've never entered one into a contest. It seems like I only hear about them when it's too late. And those are generally for kids and amateurs and I wouldn't get much personal satisfaction beating the snot out a bunch of little kids in what is supposed to be a fun thing for them.

Oh well. With any luck, they'll soon develop artificial pumpkins that I can carve the same way I carve the real item. Funkins aren't quite there. yet. Then I don't think I'd mind so much. Then maybe I can burn newly-developed candles that smell like burning pumpkin, just to make the effect complete. The pumpkin-guts I'm not going to miss...