> This post has two purposes---to remark on how the web, despite having sooooo much information, can have gaping holes, and to ask if anyone knows of a good internet resource for artists that's not just an online catalog for supplies.

Have you tried any of the on-line stock art/photography sites? There are enough of them out there that you're bound to find something. Here's a few of them that I can think of off the top of my head:

www.gettyone.com (this is probably your best bet. This site is a search engine that searches the stock libraries of dozens of stock photo sites, including many of the ones I'll mention below.)

www.photodisc.com
www.imagebank.com
www.digitalphoto.com
www.fpg.com
www.artville.com
www.tonystone.com
www.corbis.com

Another one that is NOT searchable via gettyone is www.stockmarket.com.

National Geographic has a photo library on the web now, but I can't remember the URL. However, it IS one of the sites that gettyone searches, so that shouldn't matter.

All of these sites let you download free low-resolution comping images that you could use as source material for your painting. I'm sure you can find some cranes somewhere out there.

Grishny