We landed in Denver, rented a car, and started driving to Breckenridge, CO. However,we were not expecting the snow storm that awaited us! Shane thought we were going to hike a trail that afternoon, but we arrived to the trailhead looking like this, and the only other hikers were wearing snow shoes and equipped with some serious cold weather and snow gear:)
After Breckenridge, we headed to Alamosa, CO to see Great Sand Dunes
National Park. Think... biggest sandbox you have ever seen. It is one of
the most unique things ever! We rented sand boards and sand
sleds which I highly recommend if you ever go!
It was also insanely windy! We quickly learned just how these great dunes are formed!
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| Do you see the planes? As the graduates threw their hats, the Thunderbirds flew over & performed an airshow! Such a crazy feeling! |
Before leaving Colorado Springs, we also went to Garden of the Gods.
We saw these guys just hanging out on our way to Utah. Just 5 minutes before this, we stopped at a viewing area for these big horn sheep and looked through those tourist binoculars for at least 20 minutes searching for these hiding in the mountain. They were right down the road all along!
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We stayed in Moab, UT the rest of the week and hiked and explored Arches and Canyonlands National Parks.
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| My awesome parents. |
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| Some of these hikes were a little too high and scary at some points:) Found a little more adventure than we were looking for! |
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| This was my scariest moment:) Walking along the trail, furthest behind taking pictures, and this guy leaps out in front of me on the trail. And.... I only have a picture because after screaming and leaping backward thinking I was going to be eaten, all my sister could yell behind to me was "take a picture, take a picture, take a picture!" Thanks Savannah:) Thought it was a rattlesnake, but later saw one of those too! |
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| My brother:) |
I loved all of the textures and different plant life we found on the trails!
My aunt commissioned me to paint this piece for my cousin who is collecting illustrations from all of the cities she has lived in! I finished it in December but had not shared it yet. The original piece was done in gouche and pen. I spent several weeks planning out this piece and trying to figure out the most prominent buildings to include and their placement was surprisingly difficult! After doing this piece, I have yet to look at the city the same way! 
Relief Printmaking is one of my favorite mediums to work with, and I think I have convinced some of my students that they really like it too:) I do printmaking projects with my drawing and painting classes and my AP studio art class. Each year I change up the assignment a bit. This year each class had a different objective. My AP students worked on the idea of a landscape, and my drawing and painting students created prints based on patterns. They had to create 6 prints total, and one had to be printed on an unusual surface, or texture.Each class used reduction printing methods meaning that in order to create different colors, they carved out more of the printing block for each print of a new color, working from lightest to darkest ink colors. Although relief prints can be made using lots of different materials, we used linoleum and water- based speedball printing inks. My students learn so much about the art making process during this project! 
