Diorama of Sand Hill Cranes in Denver Museum of Nature and Science
Last March I was able to go to the Crane Fest at Monte Vista Colorado and see 26,000 of these beautiful birds in the bird preserve and wetlands there. I had tried to sketch them then and they were moving too much and many times too far away. I tried a sketch from a brochure but parts of birds were cropped away.
Last week my husband, a Docent of the DMNS who gives public tours there, had to drop off some documents after hours so I went along--and took my camera. I asked the guard if I could take some photos since there were no crowds that would impede my view and he said yes. The hall lights were dimmed so there was almost no reflection from the glass windows of the dioramas. I got several good shots that I can use for reference for sketches or maybe even some watercolor pieces. It is also fun to do on-site sketching there for practice--it's so much easier when the animals don't move!
I love the museum's use of dioramas for presenting animal life. It is possible to create a scene that includes plants and animals that share the same habitat. I guess it was a "right time-right place" thing as it would be too expensive to create this type of dioramas these days. These have all been in place for many years and just need regular maintenance and occasional touch up of the backgrounds.
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