Move over, paper and canvas.
Chris Heffner's art medium is in season now, fresh off the vine. The Fulton pumpkin carver spends his free time each fall perfecting each piece.
"It's just fun," he said. "I like working with my hands."
Heffner, 62, has been creating pumpkin art the past 40 years.
He recently retired as heavy equipment operator, leaving more time for his hobbies. Those include riding his bike, photography, building model cars and - this time of year - carefully turning pumpkins into eye-catching works of arts.
Each is adorned with intricate details.
Wednesday evening found Heffner at the art table in his home a few miles west of Fulton. His current pumpkin project: a design of Bugs Bunny with the caption: "What's up Doc?"
But first, as with all his pumpkins, he had to select a pattern. If he had a simpler medium - say, a sheet of paper - laying it would be easy. A pumpkin's round surface, though, makes it trickier.
He described the process: "First thing you do is put your pattern on a pumpkin and tape it down. Then you get a push pin and poke holes."
A lot of holes, actually. The thumbtack creates hundreds of tiny dots that together make an outline.
Next, Heffner smears the design with green food coloring, which makes that outline more visible.
Then it's carving time. His tool is a tiny homemade gadget with a 2-inch blade. He uses a larger knife to cut the top off the pumpkin so he can hollow it. He scrapes extra thin inside the front of the pumpkin, which will display the design.
Tissue paper and Christmas light complete the inside of the pumpkin. Cellophane in front of the design keeps away moisture, prolonging the life of the vegetable.
"It keeps them from shriveling," he said. "They last sometimes three weeks."
The finished products typically become gifts.
"I just give 'em away to friends," he said.
The Bugs Bunny "Doc" pumpkin, for instance, will go to a physician who treated his wife, Kim.
The Heffners were married in 1977. Soon after that, Chris Heffner found his new hobby. The art pieces began as holiday décor.
"When we first got married, we started having a Halloween party," he said. "I would carve four pumpkins and put them in each corner of the room."
He added with a laugh, "It livened up the party."
His first design was a fairly easy one: a moon with a smile.
"It came out pretty good," he said. "It encouraged me to keep going."
Heffner carved more pumpkins, experimenting with trickier designs. At first he purchased the patterns in the craft aisle at Walmart; now he mainly finds them online.
He takes pride in his two most complicated pumpkins from the years: designs of Spiderman and the alien from the film "Mars Attacks!"
Time commitment varies per pumpkin.
"Three to four hours will do a simple one," he said, then shook his head recalling a not-so-simple one. "Spiderman took me three days."