Marine Corps Memorial

The Marine Corps War Memorial in Arlington, sculpted by Felix de Weldon, was based on the famous photo by Joe Rosenthal, taken 70 years ago today of Marines raising the flag at Iwo Jima.  The memorial is not just about World War II, though, but commemorates all Marines who gave their lives in defense of the nation since its founding.

The base of the memorial was covered with snow yesterday, though it had mostly melted off of the sculpture itself.  There were several snowmen in attendance, and I saw sled tracks alarmingly close to the GW Parkway (which would not be a good place to end up on a sled).

Hanuman

"You are really honoring the Gods by simply giving the living time of sketching them compare to those that just come here to take pictures or just paying little attention as they were objects" - Brahmin at the Sri Siva Vishnu Temple, Lanham MD, January 2015. This is a very beautiful Hindu Temple once visited by Mr. President Obama which is located in the Metro area of Washington DC. The temple has multiple shrines with a lot of exquisite ornamental details. It feels as a galaxy of multiple Gods with their own distinctive function. The shrine that I sketched is Hanuman "The monkey commander of the monkey army" which is very popular with Indian wrestlers. This was another spiritual sketching in which I was recording what I was seeing and feeling at the same time enjoying the beautiful Vedic chanting of the Brahmins. It took 3hrs, Black Ink on White Paper.‪#‎washingtondc‬ ‪#‎usa‬ ‪#‎hindu‬ ‪#‎srisivavishnutemple‬

Jefferson Memorial

This weekend I paid a visit to the Jefferson Memorial and the Tidal Basin.  A black and white image seemed appropriate for the grey day, so went with the dry twig and Chinese ink technique I learned about from Kiah Kiean.

The Memorial itself is modeled after the Pantheon, a building Jefferson himself admired (and imitated in his design for the Rotunda at the University of Virginia).  The inside has inscriptions from his writings, including the Declaration of Independence.

The Tidal basin was still frozen over from colder weather earlier in the week, but it was actually relatively comfortable outside today.  This has long been a favorite place of mine to walk around - and it's much less crowded in February than it is in April when the cherry trees are in bloom.