This week’s instructors – Aimee Ellis and Janet Patterson – had fun leading painting workshops that featured pussy willows, bear and swan footprints, a porcupine and a caribou mama and her baby.

Pussy Willows

“Each spring I look forward to seeing budding pussy willows emerge from the melting snow. It means winter is over!” – Aimee Ellis, artist and workshop instructor

Porcupines

“Once I was travelling to Atlin and we saw a porcupine on the road in front of us. I wanted some porcupine quills, so I approached the porcupine on foot and threw my down coat on him. When I lifted up the coat, it was full of quills! The porcupine was none to happy with me though. And I ruined my jacket removing all those quills!” – Whitehorse workshop participant

“My son was using the outhouse at our cabin. He heard a noise outside and thought it was his dad trying to play a trick on him, so my son jumped out of the outhouse and yelled, “Boo!”. Imagine his surprise when he saw that it wasn’t his dad at all, but a porcupine!” – Whitehorse workshop participant

Caribou

“I was driving to Anchorage once and ended up in the middle of a large herd of caribou. It was just incredible to watch these beautiful animals!” – Whitehorse workshop participant

”I was trying to photograph some caribou in the Northwest Territories. I was covered in a white sheet in an attempt to camouflage myself, but in winter, sound travels like crazy, so I wasn’t fooling the caribou at all. They looked over at me as if to say, ‘We know you’re there!’” – Project Coordinator and artist Leslie Leong.