provides a treasure trove of practical techniques and ingenious approaches. In this captivating guide, noted artist
Jane Freeman shows readers, step by step, how to use modified kit components, and found and handmade objects to create intensely detailed miniature constructions.
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August 2, 2008
Rain Dance
Hazy Sunday morning, North Cove marina. A guy in nautical togs, neither young nor old, leans on a floating gangway. He beckons to the dogs. I see he's from the private pleasure yacht just yonder; yes, he’s chief engineer. I can see a uniformed crew serving breakfast aboard. I assume this man, whose name is Raoul, has been a boatman all his life, but no. For years he’d traded commodities on Wall Street. One day he had a sudden urge to sail. I picture him without his tan, in the frantic din of the Stock Exchange, his face greenish under a maelstrom of ciphers like sharks circling in the glower of a tank. The funny thing, Raoul says, is that he'd never even been on a boat. I don’t blame him for his Ishmaelean sense that it was high time to get to sea. Anyway, Raoul buys a little sailboat and climbs aboard to commence his maiden voyage. With a hand on the unfamiliar tiller, he flips through the manual and reads the instructions for “How to Raise the Sail.” That done, he manages to point his prow toward the Bahamas…. As Raoul speaks, a searing lightning taproot rips above Ellis Island. Thunder wreaks a monumental CRACK! like a ship rent in two. Tracy leaps into my arms. I set her down and bid Raoul goodbye. Another whip-crack of thunder, and the shelties bolt through the downpour like sled huskies. We race for shelter under the Irish Hunger Memorial. Already a miscellany of young families is huddled beneath the irregular overhang. The steely rain intensifies to a shrill, high-volume static, thrumming like piano strings. The adults consult watches, rearrange prams, bounce infants and reconfigure plans. Suddenly, one small girl dashes out into the rain, followed by others. Gleefully they gambol and twirl, using the slick pavement as an impromptu rink for dancing.
Posted by Jane on August 2, 2008 11:27 AM
Comments
I love this. It makes me think of the current hit show, "Do you think you can dance?" There is no time like the present for Raoul to sail, and the same goes for the dancingprancing girls. Inspires me to just--GOFORIT! Thank you, JF!
Posted by: Claudia Cassel at August 8, 2008 12:49 PM
