STERLING – The self-proclaimed “Picasso of pumpkin carving” brought his artistry, along with a little stand-up comedy, to the Sauk Valley over the weekend.

Scott “Stormin’” Norman of Galva made three appearances at the Sterling County Market on Saturday, and then moved to the Dixon grocer for Sunday shows.

Scott’s shows include everything from practical tips for beginners, to educational elements for the kids, and extreme pumpkin carving with weed eaters, pickaxes, and swords.

The fall pumpkin tour has become a family affair – wife Julie, and daughters, Sarah, 13, and Sasha 12, travel with the master carver.

“We home-school the girls now, so we have the freedom to travel,” Julie said. “We’re headed to New Orleans soon, and we try to take advantage of all the educational opportunities wherever we are.”

The girls, who are working up a Pilgrim act, are also pumpkin artists, and dad has no problems handing off the knife during shows.

“We started doing this about 6 years ago, when we moved to Illinois from Alaska,” Sasha said.

Scott had been an accomplished woodcarver for a long time, but according to Sarah, the move into pumpkins started out as a joke.

“There was a pumpkin canning factory in Princeville,” she said, “and one day a neighbor said, ‘There are so many pumpkins here, why don’t you carve those too?’”

Scott at first dismissed the comment from a “smart aleck,” but the suggestion eventually made sense.

While in Sterling, Scott, with help from Sasha, carved his version of Mike Wazowski, the one-eyed monster voiced by Billy Crystal in Disney Pixar’s animated movies “Monsters, Inc.” and “Monsters University.”

“Cartoon characters make great subjects, because the images have good, hard edges,” Scott said.

Despite his reputation with power tools, Scott said a pumpkin carver’s tool of choice should be a small stainless steel steak knife.

Scott said Howden pumpkins are the easiest to carve. Aspiring artists should look for a volleyball-sized fruit that isn’t too dark, with a firm, corky stem.

No one is a Picasso immediately, so Scott suggests that beginners just relax and have some fun.

“Allow yourself to screw up – my first year, we had a lot of pumpkin pie,” he said.

In 2012, Scott decided to take his carving skills to a bigger stage. He got the call to audition for the NBC television show “America’s Got Talent.” Unfortunately, the show was going to be taped in April, not exactly peak pumpkin season.

He explained his plight, but the producers gave him a week to come up with a pumpkin. When he couldn’t find a real pumpkin, he decided to go before judges Howard Stern, Sharon Osbourne, and Howie Mandel with artificial fruit and power tools.

Scott prefers to grade his short time in the limelight as an incomplete rather than a failure. Always the showman, as he was being buzzed, he added a little dance for good measure.

“I gave them my fake pumpkin version of the performance, and needless to say, it didn’t go well,” Scott said.

During the pumpkin-carving off-season, Scott has done everything from officiating high school sports to working as a celebrity chef at Disney World in Orlando, Florida, and a guest artist for the Miami Dolphins and Tampa Bay Lightning. He also has written the comprehensive pumpkin book, “A Well Rounded View of the Well Rounded Food”.

Giving back is another important part of the family routine. Sarah and Sasha worked on a huge masterpiece in the Sterling store that was raffled off, with proceeds going to CGH Medical Center’s breast cancer awareness program.

Pumpkin-carving tips

• Use Howden pumpkins – they are the easiest to carve.

• The ideal carving pumpkin is about the size of a volleyball.

• Dark-orange pumpkins can be too hard for carving.

• Choose a pumpkin with a firm, corky stem.

• Too much ribbing on the fruit makes it difficult to carve.

• Pumpkins with a flat back work well, because they won't roll.

• Put a paper clip in each side for use as sight lines.

• Don't draw with Sharpies – they blend in with the pumpkin juice and run.

• The primary tool should be a small, stainless steel steak knife.

• Use a butter knife to create depth.

• While carving, if the pumpkin starts to get stringy, back off.

• When putting in lights, cut the pumpkin from the bottom.

• Put lots of water in the pumpkin to clean it out – the seeds will float to the top.

Source: Scott "Stormin" Norman