There are extraordinary additions to the
crane flock! I am absolutely delighted, charmed, excited by their presence!
You might wonder why I put so much time
and effort into the stories of cranes. I might wonder as well. But they really
do captivate me and I get immense enjoyment from seeing what that little flock
does.
This weekend we hosted the annual deer
hunt. Since all family members made their way home for a few days, we
celebrated Thanksgiving, too. During a few free hours, Beth, my primary crane
maker, set up a card table and along with other volunteers, magically
transformed small pieces of paper into miniature white cranes. There were even
a few butterflies, a box, and a ball of origami origin. The grandkids got
involved when Beth got out the acrylic paint, pans in which to pour paint and
dip cranes, and a few brushes to encourage the paint in proper directions.
Red cranes, green cranes and a few
marbled cranes and butterflies gathered in a safe place where they could dry
and not fly before they were ready. Beth very carefully, with a small brush,
gave these cranes white eyes and yellow beaks. After that coat of paint dried,
she added black pupils in the tiny eyes and then, with a single hair, added
white highlights.
With the hubbub of the “holiday,” I didn’t
see where the cranes went, until the next day. I went into my studio and found
little flocks of two or three red cranes near the crow on the window sill above
my desk; three red ones on the east window sill; four green ones behind a
foam-core box; and more grouped in ones and twos on the little vases standing
on the west window sill (these from a recent small flowers in small vases
painting series). One bold crane landed on the shoulder of a ceramic bust of Artemis
and is looking upward with adoring eyes. One is on the spout of a Grecian urn.
I even found a few blue ones. Three are jostling for position on a candle
holder. One red one and one blue one crowd the top of a silver vase which holds
an American flag.
Boy are there new crane stories to tell
in watercolor! I can hardly wait to get started!
