2 posts tagged “australian wildlife”

I have been thinking about doing something like this for a long time and realise that the job is bigger than just little old me!  I live in Queensland for instance and am not exposed to the wildlife in other Australian States. I have created a gorgeous free site using the Wetpaint Community platform and anyone can join who would like to contribute in creating a wealth of educational resources about Australian Wildlife and Wild Plants.

My aim is to provide an educational site for artists, writers, researchers, nature lovers, school children, students etc to be able to find information, resources and help in identifying all of our beloved Australian critters. I have so many photographs  just waiting to be added and I hope that you do too and that you would be willing to share them with the world!  Even if you can't identify what they are but they are good quality, members would love you to share them and we can help you identify the species. This is very much a community site where everyone has the power to create, tweak, modify, correct, add to, help, discuss and so on. It will, however, be moderated just to keeps things 'fair'.

Why would you do this ?

because you:

• are passionate about Australian native wildlife and you want to learn more about all of the flora and fauna around you 

• you have knowledge in this area which you would like to share 

• want to meet like-minded people who share the same love of nature as yourself  

• are a wildlife artist/photographer/writer/illustrator who would like to showcase your work and gain more exposure (you can link back to your website)   

• you have the opportunity to sell your photographs to publishers, artists looking for resource photos etc 

• want to help raise awareness of Australian animal rights and welfare  

• have good photographs of Australian flora and fauna which you would like to showcase, share and educate others about

• you are a wildlife carer   

For a long time now I have felt the need to create a social community based on my passion for the arts and photography with a focus on two things, Australia and wildlife. As a practising artist and photographer and also being Australian, I felt that there was a real gap for Australian artists to launch themselves, network locally and gain exposure to Australian facilities such as galleries, exhibitions, retail outlets, online shops, self-publishing options, local photo shoots or sketching and painting classes, framers, suppliers, etc you get the idea. Click here to take a peek at the site and join if you wish.

Member Page in Oz Nature Niche

There are many really good sites with similar aims but they are mostly in America and this is not advantageous in many ways for Australian artists. My vision for this Australian Wildlife Art Community “Oz Nature Niche” is for it to grow into something huge - a massive network of resources if you like but I can’t do it on my own.

I have set this up so that members may join freely and contribute freely in any way they can. I think that if we can gather a pool of artists’ expertise, resources, stimulus, galleries, portfolios etc and then advertise the sight by using the badges available which we can embed on our own websites and blogs we can’t help but open up a larger audience. I have nearly 30,000 visitors who have checked out my website at http://www.lesley-smitheringale-fine-art.com so you can imagine that if the Nature Niche Badge is embedded on my site, it should generate a lot of interest and likewise when all members do the same. (You can see an example of a badge on my website).  The badges have the facility to show members' photos as well - even more dynamic.