Lesley Smitheringale Fine Art

International Conservation Photography Awards

The International Conservation Photography Awards
(ICP Awards), is a premier worldwide photography event.

The First Summer Garden Guests

Well, I think we are having an early summer in Queensland, Australia as the temperatures have been reaching 30 degrees centigrade already and it is hot and sticky.  Whilst this can be uncomfortable for us humans, the hot summer weather brings about gorgeous summer guests such as butterflies, hoverflies, dragonflies, cicadas and a whole lot more which I am still discovering in my garden from year to year.

The screensaver that’s helping to save the planet

WWF now has a screensaver that demonstrates a powerful message that we can all help stop global warming and the effects can be seen in some of the most beautiful places in the world.

Featured Artist - Patrick Christie

Patrick Christie was born in 1968 in Narrandera, a small rural town in the Riverina region of NSW.  At an early age, his parents and school teachers became aware of his artistic aptitude and at the age of ten he was enrolled in a weekly art class at the local TAFE where he worked mostly with pencil, pen and ink.

Wildlife Artist of the Year Competition 2009

Enter the David Shepherd Wildlife Foundation’s annual art competition and help save wildlife

• Open to all amateur and professional artists aged 17 and over
• Fee 20 British Pounds
• Closing Date: 30 January 2009

Invitation to worldwide Wildlife artists, photographers and crafters

I have recently launched a brand new site which is exclusively designed for wildlife artisans worldwide who strive to produce high quality artworks of flora and fauna. The site is totally free and you can visit it at International Nature Niche and upon membership you will have access to:

Visited by a King Parrot

I couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw this fellow munching the seed bell at 6am this morning and he is probably the most striking bird I have ever seen in my garden.  It’s my first sighting ever of an Australian King-Parrot and they really are impressive with the flash of scarlet and vivid emerald green.

Facebook just got a whole lot friendlier!

I have been using this wonderful addition to Facebook recently, called Scrapplet which has just been developed and launched by Steve Repetti.

“Amorous Male Lorikeet” caught in the act!

I have been filming some of the birds in my garden recently and have been using my old four megapixels camera so the quality is not wonderful.  To make up for this, I think that you will find this clip of an amorous male rainbow lorikeet “hiliarious” as he “struts his stuff” trying to impress the female who is less than keen.  It also gives “kick boxing” a whole new meaning and it has obviously existed in nature before we knew it and just goes to show you that “all of us girls have to protect ourselves somehow!”

Wildlife Festival 2008 at Beaudesert

I did something that I’ve never done before as an artist and that was to set up a stall.  I was one of several artists whose work was on display for sale at the very first Wildlife Festival held at the Beaudesert Information and Arts Centre.