With Halloween just around the corner, Natalie Murphy meets pumpkin artist Gareth Glover who has become a specialist in carving pumpkin sculptures.
HE COUNTS Johnny Depp, Morrissey and Look North's Peter Levy among his triumphs.
Gareth Glover's passion for pumpkin carving has seen him recreate some of the most famous faces in the world – along with some closer to home.
His latest commission saw Gareth honour pumpkin grower David Bowman with a portrait on one of the plants.
Gareth, 34, travelled from his home in Pearson Park, west Hull, to take part in the Spalding Pumpkin Festival, sponsored by Mr Bowman, where he displayed his work.
He said: "South Holland District Council got in touch to invite me down to the festival to do demonstrations and show off my work.
"It was a wonderful event with thousands of people there.
"David Bowman, who is the largest pumpkin producer in Europe, was delighted with the portrait I did of him on a pumpkin."
As well as having the skill to create stunning designs on the flesh of the fruit, Gareth is himself a pumpkin grower, too.
He might not farm on the same scale as Mr Bowman, but his allotment in Tavistock Street, off Newland Avenue, west Hull, allows him to care for pumpkins as well as carve them.
"I have had my own allotment in Hull for about four years now," he said. "I started off just growing the regular stuff, but when the pumpkin carving came along I started to grow them.
"They take a lot of care, but I can grow them a bit bigger than the ones you get in the supermarket."
Growing his own has helped Gareth turn what was a hobby into a slightly more serious occupation that has seen him offered commissions for his carvings.
"People really warmed to it," he said. "They know I grow them through the year and people really appreciated that.
"They do take a lot of dedication because of all the potential pests and diseases.
"I still have a job – I provide editorial support for a publishing company in London. The pumpkins are just a hobby that got out of control."
Gareth planted this year's crop between April and May and is keen to try different varieties.
"I was asked to do centrepieces for a wedding and I'd heard about a variety with white skin called Snowball," he said.
"But the seeds are quite temperamental and difficult to germinate.
"What I think about growing your own pumpkins is that you can have better stalks. Supermarkets tend to cut them really short, but I like to leave them longer to give them a bit more character and more interest to them."
Demand for his designs means the allotment cannot supply all the pumpkins he needs, so Gareth uses supplies from Lincolnshire, where most of the UK's pumpkins are grown, and locally from Jason Butler, of The Pumpkin Patch, in Bewholme, near Driffield.
"I'm growing five different varieties on the allotment but some will take better than others and for commissions it needs to be a bit more professional," Gareth said.
"I started to take it more seriously last year, taking commissions.
"When I first started, I just used stencils from the internet and people looked at them and said 'that's fantastic'. It's quite simple when you know how, so I started to do harder designs and kept testing myself. Then, someone said to me, 'Can you do my pet chihuahua?'.
"I realised if you get a good image or photograph and then load it into Photoshop and manipulate it you can create a carving.
"That is the creative process and I haven't found anything I can't do.
"Last year, I did Peter Levy, which went down really well, although I'm not sure what Peter thought of it."
Gareth is self-taught as a pumpkin artist but he does have some training in growing them.
He said: "I was working in telesales and marketing but went back to college.
"I was ready for a career change and wanted to get out of the office and the high-pressure sales environment, so I went to Bishop Burton College, where I did horticulture.
"That really set me up and I haven't looked back."
And he does not just dig the clay, he models it too.
"I did a course at Hull College and I've broken out in to ceramics, trying some designs in clay.
"Some of my work was on display at Burton Agnes earlier this year and at the Rufford international Ceramics Fair.
"My transition from pumpkin flesh to clay challenges the space between soft and temporary and durable and enduring."
