"vacuum cleaner"

ever since Oli began to become very prolific in his art work, around the age of 2.5, much of his creations reflect merely the tools at hand, his energy level and his developmental stage. but sometimes, he makes something that really makes me stop and admire his talent. this is one of those pieces.

"computer"

i guess as a reaction to us being on the computer (even though Oli can usually play on them whenever he wants), Oli has made his own computers a lot. this one though has several computers working within one. pretty cool.

"feel good drawing"

a gift from Oli to cheer me up. the first time i notice him using block letters.

"a message"

Oli left this on the floor for me to find. we were not having a good day in the house and he was mad at me. not sure where he got this image, maybe tom and jerry?

"tornado man"

our first attempt at creating an action figure. i helped with the form but was directed at all stages by Oli. Oli added the color/designs.

"mother's day present"

seems to be a tree on grass with flowers drawn in. there are "jewels" around the tree, another one of Oli's obsessions.

"flower sculpture"

a very cool layered sculpture with a real stem and model magic base and flower. notice the powder, corn starch, sprinkled around, Oli has begun making "science" experiments and loves using powdery things.

"nest with bird"

a present for his brother's birthday. he had a little help with the bird shape which is made from that model magic stuff. the sticks, from the park, are glued to the plate along with the bird.

"shark boy and lava girl birthday cake"

Oli decorated his own birthday cake this year. this is not the finished cake, but it's pretty awesome.

"photoshop"

Oli's first adventure into the world of computer manipulation. he was designing his birthday invitation.

"birthday present"

Oli's present to his dad for his birthday this year. it is a photography book consisting of drawings of us and Brian with his camera, Brian photographing at different locations and printouts of some of Oli's favorite images taped into the book.

"sofia"

a portrait Oli made of his friend Sofia.

"sculpture"

not really sure what this is, but it's cool.

"landscape"

this "landscape" is made from modeling clay, paint, glue, food coloring, and paper on styrofoam. there are volcanoes and waterfalls, land and buildings. there is even a vertical ocean near the sand. this piece is different from the rest of Oli's art because of the amount of time Oli spent on it. this marks the first time he repeatedly returned to add to a project, "landscape" took him 5 days to complete.

"super sun"

super sun... not sure

"idea for birthday cake decoration"

Oli really likes Shark Boy and Lava Girl. this is his design for the top of his 5 year old birthday cake.

"sad person"

tempera paint on foam packaging.

"flowers, letters, and other things"

Oli has begun incorporating letters into some of his art. this one also has 3-dimensional elements toward the bottom.

"cake carving"

another cake inspired art piece. this one was carved out of foam, then painted. it looks awesome on the wall.

"headache"

Oli had a headache one day and he started to describe what it felt like. i asked him to draw it instead. he claims it is unfinished.

"volcano with tube"

one of many volcanos. this one sits on top of styrofoam and has a tube-like thing that the lava shoots into. playdoh and nail polish made up most of this project.

"fun with snow"

snow castle with bridge and food coloring.

"shark boy and lava girl"

Oli's brief obsession with the movie SharkBoy and LavaGirl. he has moved on to the Spy Kid series, but is still really into lava, especially when it is being shot out of hands.
he drew these while looking at stills from the film.

"cake 2, cake 3, cake..."

more cakes. i guess we should be careful with what Oli watches on tv.

"cake"

Oli watched a show about high-end wedding cake designers. he was very inspired. this cake took 3 days and is made of paper, tape, gold paint, ribbon and fake flowers.

"presents"

we bought Oli a variety pack of ribbon. nothing but presents around here since.
(the drawing was inspired by a magic school bus episode)

"snowflake trials"

the holiday decorations have begun (Oli decorates for every season/holiday). we were trying out snowflake cutouts. Oli arranged them for the wall.

"stage for gingerbread man show"

Oli loves shows. he loves designing the sets, making the characters, selling tickets, performing them. he likes to do this very often... thankfully his performances are getting shorter and more interesting.
sorry i don't have a video of this one, it was actually really good. it consisted of one made up christmas-type song and the gingerbread boy in the center dancing around.

"hey mom, come in here"

and as i turned the corner... Oli in a homemade spider costume. (i was pretty impressed with this one)

"cyclops story"

this image tells the story, as Oli explains it, of a cyclops (who's house is behind the wall). the small boy to the right has a red 'eraser' that can erase parts of the cyclops to stop him from attacking... well, that's how i remember the story.

"house for pony with slide and poll"

Oli constantly creates homes for his 'friends'. this is one of many he's made for pony. the sliding poll fell down, but you get the idea. these structures take up a lot of space and usually get recycled after a while.

"game"

an incredibly large board game that Oli was working on. it has fire and a rainbow and ends somewhere.

"me and izi"

Oli was fascinated (briefly) by the concept of how it looks, from the front, if his arm was around his brother. he asked his dad to photograph it but got tired of waiting, so he painted it himself.

Oliver Daniels Finke

Oli has been an extremely prolific artist since he turned two years old. At four and a half, his creations are even more imaginative and elaborate. This blog is one of our attempts to document his work.