My crane observations go back a long way. In fact, the experience of hearing and seeing my first sandhill cranes staging at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge in 1999, marked the beginning of a major change in my life--a change that moved me into my passion for wildlife conservation and creating art. The two are now inseparable.
Early gourd art pieces created in 2001-2002 and inspired by sandhill cranes and whooping cranes.
What's so special about cranes? As Aldo Leopold put it in his book of essays,
A Sand County Almanac: "Our ability to perceive quality in nature begins, as in art, with the pretty. It expands through successive stages of the beautiful to values as yet uncaptured by language. The quality of cranes lies, I think, in this higher gamut, as yet beyond the reach of words."
Above, you see a painting I created in late November 2011 using one of my favorite sandhill crane reference images. Two sandhill cranes with their "landing gear" down are floating in for a landing at the Hiwassee Wildlife Refuge. I have always loved this posture. The cranes hold their wings like parachutes and dangle their legs as they float down in preparation for landing.
I also selected this image as my cover illustration for my new children's activity book, the
Discover Birds Activity Book. A fun project!
This twelve-page booklet is sponsored by the Tennessee Ornithological Society (TOS) and will be available for the first time at the Tennessee Sandhill Crane Festival in Birchwood, TN this weekend, January 14th and 15th. The idea of creating an activity book for the kids that attend the festival was conceived by friend and TOS member, Cyndi Routledge, who also secured the funding and arranged for the layout and printing. I had the pleasure of creating the text and illustrations and I am delighted with the beautiful results.
The book includes bird illustrations to color, fun facts about wintering birds and conservation, and a challenging crossword puzzle to test what you've learned. My hope is that we can expand this book in coming years and continue to inspire children and their interest in birds and bird conservation.
More about this book click
here.
