Lesley Smitheringale Fine Art

If Looks Could Kill!

There’s definitely a lesson to be learned here and nature is the best teacher of all. Some of the messages could be “Looks can Kill, Beauty is only Skin Deep, Don’t judge a Book by its Cover, and the Nudibranchs are the undersea examples of all of the above!

Nudibranchs occur worldwide and are marine snails that have no shell (or in which the shell is significantly reduced), which are noted for their often extraordinary colors and striking forms. The suborder Nudibranchia is the largest suborder of with more than 3,000 described species. The word “nudibranch” comes from the Latin nudus, naked, and the Greek brankhia, gills. They live at virtually all depths, but reach their greatest size and variation in warm, shallow waters.

- video by Nick Hope

How do these bright coloured, slow-moving creatures escape predators? Nature’s ways are frequently ingenious and the protective devices employed by nudibranchs are clever indeed. The flesh of opishthobranchs is frequently toxic or distasteful due to various chemical secretions. The bright “poster coloured” patterns serve to warn potential predators of their inedible qualities. These colours have most likely evolved in response to the threat of fish predators in view of their intelligence and visual acuity. Once a fish inadvertently samples a sour nudibranch it is not likely to forget this experience. In subsequent encounters the nudibranch’s bold color pattern serves to remind the fish of its inedible qualities and it is ignored.

All photos are by David Doubilet and are available to purchase

Sources:

http://www.nudibranch.com.au/aboutnudibranchs.html
http://www.reefed.edu.au/home/explorer/animals/marine_invertebrates/molluscs/nudibranchs

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=F57QZBrWZEI&feature=related

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nudibranch
http://ngm.nationalgeographic.com/2008/06/nudibranchs/doubilet-photography?email=pom_20080515

Introducing: Rare Black Jaguar Cub born in Captivity

This drop dead gorgeous animal deserves special attention as he is an endangered species who was born in captivity at the Huachipa Zoo in Lima, Peru on Monday 5 May, 2008. He looks like a black puma but infact he is a jaguar with oodles of personality as you can see from the photos.

Source - http://www.greenexpander.com/2008/05/06/black-baby-jaguar-born-in-peru/

Earth-Touch offering free Wildlife Videos to Download

Not just a website but a media extravaganza which I discovered today when one of the Earth-Touch videos appeared on the TV channel I was watching in High Definition.  From there I discovered the website and it’s very impressive.  There are several wildlife videos available to watch online or to download and view on your computer, iPod or digital TV, for free (at this stage).  You have to join (for free) in order to be able to download and enjoy the videos but they must not be copied or used in blogs etc so I can’t embed one in this post to show you but trust me, they are very good.  They are all fairly short but perhaps could be all be copied onto a disk to watch.  When you join, there is also the option of rating and commenting on the videos.  There is also a blog and RSS Feed so that you can remain up-to-date with the latest videos.

Earth-Touch is both a company and a concept. We aim to film quality wildlife footage in High Definition from the most spectacular locations around the world, and to bring it to you, our users, within a few days or less of it being filmed. Our footage can be accessed on the Web through our main site and our blog, and can be seen on TV, through our global partnerships with broadcasters. We want to show people the truth and beauty of nature, and in doing so, to inspire them to looking after the precious yet dwindling natural resources our planet has.

My New Online Photographic Prints Shop

Due to several requests, I am thrilled to announce my brand new Online Shop where I am now selling smaller matted prints.

Click on the above photo to check it out

As well as continuing to sell larger prints and merchandise on RedBubble and Zazzle, I am now selling two sizes of smaller prints.

The prints are framed in a bevelled matte board of either black or white, personally signed and dated by myself on the front of the matte board and on the back of the photograph, backed with foam board and presented in a clear plastic sleeve for added protection. These prints are ready to be popped in a frame of your choice.

Photograph size of 5 x 7 ” which mounts up to 8 x 10”

Photograph size of 8 x 10? which mounts up to 11 x 14?

These can be purchased from Lesley Smitheringale Online Shop and there is a shopping cart in the Galleries allowing you to choose your size and colour of matte board. Please note that the watermark will not appear on your professionally printed photographs. For best viewing, select full screen and watch either as stills or a slideshow. There is a help menu in the presentation.

Matted Print examples and how I package them before posting. An example of how the print looks in a frame.

Tiger cares for Cubs of a different stripe ‘revisited’

I have revisited this story due to it being a popular post on my site but I realised that since I moved my blog over to my new website, that the pictures and videos just got lost in cyberspace. I’m sorry to those of you who have read this post with no visuals or proper links. Below is the original story plus some new information I recently found out about this whole surrogecy family which makes a lot more sense.

A Bengal tiger has been charming visitors to a Thai zoo for nearly four years, tending to generations of playful piglets as if they were her own. Six-year-old Bengal tiger Saimai is matriarch to an extraordinary family unit. She has been caring for adopted groups of mischievous piglets at the Sriracha Zoo near Bangkok, Thailand, since she was two years old.

“First we took the piglets away from their mother, then we left them with the tiger, and straight away they ran to the tiger mother, thinking that it was their mother,” Saimai’s trainer, Samit Krajangpoh, told Metro.

“They were searching for breast milk from Saimai.” Her latest batch of piglets wear little tiger fur coats, while one even sports a red bowtie. The piglets when not feeding and resting are most fond of sparring playfully with each other.

I had my doubts about the piglets wearing the tiger vests but now it all makes sense due to the mother tiger’s depression. I just wish that the media, in releasing this story had mentioned all the “true” details.

Here is a video of this unusual family, courtesy of benderxrd2

Bruno’s Hinterland Oasis in Melbourne

This positively charming art and sculpture oasis created by South American artist Bruno Torfs is in Marysville, 95k from Melbourne. The Garden is open to the public every day from 10am - 5pm and the Gallery on weekends. I have never been but next time I am in Melbourne I will make an effort to visit this beautiful place.

After training and working as a sign writer, Bruno made a gradual transition to become a fulltime artist. This was achieved through many trips around the world, both alone and with his wife Marleen.

Sketching the scenes and faces of his journeys allowed Bruno to return home and make oil painting and sculpture versions of his experiences. These artworks would then be sold in a series of annual exhibitions hosted in the lower levels of the family home. After several years of this lifestyle, Bruno and the family made a decision to pack up and move to Australia to create a sculpture garden that he would run as a permanent attraction.

The family arrived in Melbourne and shortly after had found the perfect place in the small Victorian village of Marysville. The luscious sub-alpine forests of the surrounding area were the ideal setting for Bruno’s plan and luckily the property he purchased had a large section of rain forest attached. After five months of backbreaking work, Bruno’s art and sculpture garden was opened to the public.

Also on the property was a gallery that housed over 200 of his artworks brought over from Europe that included oil paintings, sketches and smaller sculptures. The garden began with just fifteen life sizes terracotta sculptures, today there are over one hundred and fifteen pieces on display and Bruno is still making regular additions. The unique experience of the garden and its wondrous inhabitants attracts thousands of visitors a year. Bruno and the family still live there and always take great pleasure in being able to share their magnificent art treasure with all that come.

Bruno’s Art & Sculpture Garden Website

Featured Artist: Luc Viatour

This has got to be one of the most attractive looking fish I have ever seen and it is called a Mandarinfish. This photograph (which appears in wikipedia) and the others here were taken by Belgian photographer Luc Viatour and his work, I think you will agree, is outstanding. See more on Luc’s website.

¢ Luc Viatour GFDL / CC

Featured Artists: Marcin Zagorski, Mariusz Pawelec and Patrycja

These Polish photographers work’ leaves me speechless. The lighting, mood, clarity, colours and composition in their nature shots is out of this world. I can’t find information in English about them unfortunately. Here is a selection of their work and you can see more of this stunning photography here.

World’s Largest Moth

I am relieved that these massive insects are not native to Australia as I would not cope well - I freak out when I see a Granny’s Cloak Moth (considerably smaller).

The Atlas moth (Attaacus atlas) is found in the tropical and subtropical forests of Southeast Asia and is considered to be the largest moth in the world. The females are larger and heavier and the wingspans are from 25-30cm (8-10 inches).

Atlas moths are unsteady fliers and the female does not stray far from the location of her discarded chrysalis and she seeks a perch where the air currents will best carry her pheromones.

Once mated, the female lays a number of spherical eggs 2.5 mm in diameter on the undersides of leaves. Dusty-green caterpillars hatch after about two weeks and feed voraciously on the foliage of certain citrus and other evergreen trees. The caterpillars are adorned with fleshy spines along their backs which are covered in a waxy white substance. After reaching a length of about 115 mm (4.5 inches), the caterpillars pupate within a papery cocoon, interwoven into desiccated leaves.

The adult moths emerge after about four weeks.

Sources: Wikipedia Oddity Central by spooky and BBC UK

Fluro Face Painting

I loved this photograph as soon as I set eyes on it at best pic ever and congratulations to the photographer. Similar to Aboriginal Body Painting only fluro style!