Pasha Project

This winter we lost our beloved cat, Pasha. I came home to find him dead on the floor, no explanation or reason. He'd always had these 'spells' where he'd wheeze and convulse. Several vets couldn't figure it out (including Leif's father), my best guess is grand mal seizure or asthma. Leif made this tribute to him so he would always be near his beloved Chloe. We will miss him dearly.

Winter Project

Leif and I haven't done much artwork this winter; we have a lot less available time and were working on a different project. Leif came SO far this winter! At the beginning of the season he was still wearing (but not using) his harness and was only comfortable on blue terrain, but due to some stellar coaching as a member of the Jay Peak Ski Team and some incredibly hard work on his part, Leif earned the title of "Most Dynamic Skier" for his team. This year he was a J7 (wishful) and he looks forward to training next year with the J6's. As soon as ski season is over we will do lots more artwork!

Ordovician Sea Life

Once again taking inspiration from Nigel Marven, Leif asked to do a project with orthocones and sea scorpions that he saw during Nigel's travels to the ordovician period. In this episode, he swam with chain mail and a scuba suit and encountered these creatures. Leif painted the background, traced the orthocone pattern, then cut and pasted black coral. I traced, cut, and detailed the animals so he could paste them on. Great fun!

Dinosaur Breeding Grounds

This multimedia dinosaur project features breeding pairs of stegosaurus, triceratops, allosaurus, ultrasaurus, parasaurolophus, quetzalcoatlus, and one macroplatus which was caught and is being eaten by the allosaurus pair. Leif painted the background, traced the animals, and I detailed them so he could glue them on. Notice that each female is guarding an egg clutch. Yet another fun and very successful art project at Leif's suggestion.

Triceratops Pumpkin

Leif and I carved a pumpkin this morning, and he wanted it to be a triceratops. We scooped out the guts of the pumpkin, then Leif traced and cut the triceratops from his dinosaur book. I traced his cutout onto the pumpkin and carved the details of the dinosaur. Then we put a candle in it and took a picture. Although it isn't visible in this picture, there are pumpkin seeds glued on, lining the curve of the triceratops' plated skull.

Cuttlefish Project

Still taking inspiration from the IMAX film, Leif wanted to do a project with cuttlefish. Note the cuttlefish eating the crab, just like in the film. Also a sea turtle eating a jellyfish, a swordfish eating a porcupine fish and a crab dining on a limpet. My favorite is the giant clam; Leif traced, cut and colored it all himself, all I did was outline with black marker. He also colored the highlights in the turtle's shell with various shades of green. He also traced the swordfish and the limpet; I am impressed at how much he is doing on his own without help since we started doing projects together in January!

Chambered nautilus

Leif saw these magnificent creatures in the IMAX film "Under the Sea" and also in his Zoology book. He painted a background while I traced the nautiluses, then he wanted red kelp like in the movie, so I cut some tissue paper which he glued onto the paper once the paint dried. I detailed the natiluses and Leif put them onto the painting. These are really cool animals!