Happy anniversary

Kyle and I celebrated our second year of marriage and our eighth year together yesterday. We had yummy enchiladas and tacos for the occasion. Oscar was super excited.

Iphone Cases

New iPhone cases on my Society 6 page:

Bluejay

Houses

sc

Good morning White House

Air Mail

Our Asia trip is officially one month away!!  We received this lovely fan in the mail from Lauren via Singapore mail service.  She's the reason for this adventure and I really can't think of anyone better to explore Asia with other than her and Kyle. 

Our flights and hotels are booked.  If anyone has suggestions for daily outings and adventures for Singapore; Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam; Bangkok, Thailand; Chaing Mai, Thailand; AND/or Phuket, Thailand please comment. 

Have a fabulous weekend,
sc

Project Dispatch subscriptions for March

Suburban, 12x9, pen

Urban, 12x9, pen

Art Show!

If you're in the area come to Madison High school from 6:30-8:00pm to see art from the local elementary, middle, and high schools!  Can't wait to see my students and their families,

sc

Grade 6: Landscape painting

My sixth grade students created these compositions after our discussion on land development.  I asked them, “What does our community need?” and, “What kinds of development would make our community better?”  They had their choice between recreational, commercial, commemorative, or residential development.
This lesson was part of our county’s sixth grade fine art assessment.  I think they did a great job.  Can you guess which type of land development they painted?

You can check out the rest here at imadepurple.edublogs.org

sc

Occoquan, Virginia

We discovered this charming town on the way home from Mason Neck Wildlife Refuge.  We stopped for lunch and coffee but ended up walking around the whole town instead.  It took less than fifteen minutes to complete a circle but there was so much to see.  It honestly felt like we were on a movie set.  What I liked most was the preserved architecture; many of the structures were original or built to look original.  And, the citizens (all 900 of them) acknowledged their historic ties with ads for ghost tours, civil war trails, and museums.  You could tell they were proud of their history.  I wish I took more photos.  Definitely stop and explore if you're in the area.

sc

Mason Neck Wildlife Refuge

Kyle and I went to the Mason Neck National Wildlife Refuge today because he heard it was the place to see bald eagles.  I've never seen a bald eagle in real life, so I was excited. We picked an easy trail and made our way with Oscar to the marsh where the locals say the eagles nest.  We did not see any at first, but Kyle used the mega-view finder and spotted two nesting together!  They were in the nest for sometime but eventually flew around the marsh and entertained us for a while.  At one point, there were four bald eagles flying over our heads!

The Refuge is next to Mason Neck State Park (which we did not explore) but I'm sure we'll go back.  Hope you had a great Sunday,

sc

Graphic Friday

These are illustrations from John Holcomb's series titled, "The United Plates."  If you haven't already guessed, the series includes states -and the district- in the form of foods.  They're fun....simple.....quirky.    Props to Holcomb for tapping into a hot market....almost everyone has state pride.  You can purchase the prints on his website and view his other series, US Presidents.


Have a fun Friday,
sc

New York Times: Photography

Source: livelymorgue.tumblr.com via Sheena on Pinterest

The Lively Morgue is the New York Times' tumblr page featuring photos -some published, some never published- from their print editions.  They have over 5 million prints in their collection and thought it'd be neat to post a few per week as they digitize their collection.  I agree!

It's fun to look at the images and imagine their history (image above: hello speak-easies! can you imagine?).  The blog also provides the 'back story,' which are the notes on the reverse side of the photo.  Can you spot the grease pencils!?  It reminds me of my high school newspaper days.  I think they do things differently now..... I feel old......  Anywho.  

Check out the Lively Morgue,

sc

Grade 4: Virginia Regions

My fourth grade class painted landcapes featuring a Virginia region.  We discussed how Virginia is made up of mountains, beaches, marshes, and plains.  Each student designed a composition of a region they’ve been to in Virginia or would like to visit.  I especially like how they practiced several painting techniques by filling in the foreground, middleground, and background.  Head to imadepurple.edublogs.org to see more.

sc

Poor gorilla

He didn't know what was coming.

Project Dispatch subscriptions for Feburary

Bird print by Elizabeth Graeber

Look at the collection of artwork mailed to subscribers this month.


sc

Look who we found under the covers