Leo the Aquarium Lobster Enjoys a Pea

by Donna Mibus

Title

Leo the Aquarium Lobster Enjoys a Pea

Artist

Donna Mibus

Medium

Painting - Watercolor And Ink

Description

Meet Leo, short for Leonardo da Pinchy. He was our little aquarium lobster and we discovered he loved peas! We would keep a bag of peas in the freezer just for him. We'd toss one in and as it slowly sank to the bottom Leo would get all excited and start jumping up and down, reaching up with his big front claws to catch it. He was such fun to watch as he nibbled on his pea. You can see him holding it in the painting. Leo is not a real lobster. He's a crayfish. But I guess nobody is going to pay $25 for a crayfish, so the aquarium store had him labeled as a lobster. We were lucky though. They had him marked down to $5 because he was missing one of his front claws. Poor little guy. Of course we wanted him, if for no other reason because nobody else seemed to. They assured us the claw would grow back, but we were skeptical. Didn't matter. He was a cutie and such a beautiful bright orange color. To our delight, his claw did grow back! Leo spent his time exploring the aquarium. He loved sitting up on the large wood decoration and watching what went on in his underwater world. The fish left him alone and he left them alone, unless one got too close, but that didn't happen often. The fish were smart. Did you know a crayfish molts? A crayfish's exoskeleton doesn't expand, so they shed it in order to grow bigger. Well! We were not aware of this, so when we saw what appeared to be Leo, dead, boy did we all boohoo! Then my daughter said, "wait... there's Leo!" and sure enough there he came, walking nonchalantly across the gravel. And he was noticeably bigger! When he shed that exoskeleton it looked like he was still in it, hence the reason we thought he had died. What a relief! Really, it would have been nice if the aquarium store had mentioned the molting process. If you'd like to see a short video of Leo eating his pea, please visit https://youtu.be/IWFb7mdlJfQ.
This painting, to honor our sweet Leo, was painted on bright white watercolor paper using watercolors and ink. It was my Day 97 entry in the 100 day challenge I'm participating in at Fineartamerica with other artists. We aim to create one new piece of art a day for 100 consecutive days.
Design ©Donna Mibus. Unauthorized use or copying of any part my work is prohibited.
#Pixels100DayChallenge

Uploaded

May 2nd, 2021

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