A Sixteen-Year-Old Master

This week: Sound in flames, the deepest caves in the world, and a sixteen-year-old master.  Is this email not displaying correctly? View it in your browser. Sixteen-Year-Old Artist Wins National Art Competition with Masterful Hyper-Realistic Pencil Portrait 16-year-old artist Shania McDonagh snagged the top prize at the 2014 Texaco Children's Art Competition with this hyperrealistic drawing of a man titled Coleman.   Transfixing 3D Paper Patterns by Maud Vantours Paris-based designer and artist Maud Vantours uses layer upon layer of cut paper to create hypnotizing patterns and textures that translate into set designs, fashion accessories, and editorial treatments.   Artist Piotr Bockenheim Puts Your Easter Egg Decorating to Shame with His Intricately Carved Goose Shells Unless you spent hundreds upon hundreds of hours with a tiny electric drill carving intricate patterns into eggshells the last few months, you may have yet to reach your Easter egg decorating potential. One person who clearly has is artist Piotr Bockenheim who uses a reductive drilling technique to transform goose eggs into slithering tangles of string and various geometric or floral patterns.   Pyro Board: An Audio Visualizer Created from an Array of 2,500 Flames [VIDEO] So here's a thing to never try at home. Derek Muller from the very fine science video blog Veritasium visits with a team of "physics and chemistry demonstrators" who built this ridiculous sound board that demonstrates the effect of sound waves traveling through flammable gas.   Underworld: The Intrepid Cave Photography of Robbie Shone Robbie Shone is a British adventure, cave and travel photographer based out of Austria. His adventures have led him to the remotest areas of China, Papua New Guinea, Borneo, the Alps and Crete where he has photographed the deepest, largest, and longest cave systems ever discovered.   Trompe L'oeil Constructions Made from Layers of Plywood by Ron Isaacs Starting with layers of Finnish birch plywood artist Ron Isaacs builds elaborately designed constructions onto which he paints, in a trompe l'oeil fashion, the delicate details of leaves sprouting from clothing or the textured surface of twigs and bark.   Surreal Photos of the Tatio Geyser Field in Chile by Owen Perry Located within the Andes Mountains of northern Chile, El Tatio is the largest geyser field in the southern hemisphere and the third largest in the world. British Columbia-based interactive web designer and visual artist Owen Perry recently visited El Tatio and returned with these spectacular shots.   New in the Colossal Shop: Sugar Skull Spoons The Sugar Skull tea spoon was born from the happy realisation that, with a simple twist, the humble tea spoon could become the perfect home accessory for fans of the macabre (and fans of hot drinks!).