Most people who live in Florida are familiar with one of its most interesting birds – the Florida Sand-hill Crane. Currently the Florida sand-hill crane is protected by the US Migratory Bird Treaty Act and is listed as a threatened species. One of the major threat to the Florida sand-hill crane is due to direct loss of habitat.
They are welcome to visit in our home and garden anytime… even though sometimes I’ve heard our chickens wonder what kind of overgrown bird is visiting, I imagine they too don’t mind.
At least 4-5 times a week we have sand-hill cranes visiting our property. They swoop in for a landing and begin their very familiar and loud call announcing their arrival. So you can imagine where the next inspiration for the exterior back-wall of the house came about. I grabbed a scrap piece of paper and swiftly tried to imprint the picture before the concept would disappear.
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There was more impetus for the inspiration since during my time as Mayor for the city of Lake Helen the commission unanimously approved a vote to make the Florida Sand-hill Crane the city bird.
The question for me about the mural artwork was… could I pull it off? The butterflies and sunflower mural artwork transferred from my mind onto the wall just fine, but could I pull off these earthy toned colors?
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I got the idea to create a base foundation from white paint and then just have a go with the browns and blacks – go with the flow, that’s what Mind said to me. Getting the look and feel for the feathers was a bit “ethereal” since it felt interesting that my mind and hand could almost imagine the feathers – but obviously when looking at the finished product that was far from looking like feathers.
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When I began applying the red on it’s head and face, that’s when I truly began having a blast bringing this Florida Sandhill Crane to life… it just popped and even I made a double take.
Now comes the best part, I was having my doubt if I should embellish the artwork a bit more, so before adding any more details I decided to give it and me a break. The next day while I was having my morning coffee I heard the calls of the sand-hill cranes. The sound was loud and it seemed as if they were at the back kitchen door, so I decided to have a look. Well, imagine my surprise when I saw them admiring my mural.
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Now without fail… at least 3 times a month, we have these visitors come right up to the Sand-hill artwork and stay for hours. One day they were there for 6 hours just pecking and standing and fluffing and occasionally singing. So… with my new fans opinion, I’ll leave it just as it is. I suppose sometimes Less is more.
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