About
the Artist:
Fiona Lumsden Wildlife Artist Biography:
Fiona
Lumsden grew up in the small village of Mt Wilson amidst the wilderness
of the Greater Blue Mountains National Park. It was there that she
began learning about the birds, animals and plants of the wild
places that surrounded her. She has lived in and explored the
upper Blue Mountains area ever since.
Fiona has a keen interest in birdwatching and other nature study and a
great love for the Australian bush. This has led to her
specialising in bird painting and other flora and fauna subjects.
The artist has been painting Australian birds for nearly 50 years now:
studying their form, habits and habitat, primarily on her numerous field trips throughout
Australia but also in zoos, aviaries, museums and literature.
For her original paintings she uses watercolours, gouache, pastels,
inks and pencil on 100% cotton rag watercolour paper. The
conservation-quality frames are individually designed by the artist for
each artwork. She also sells limited-edition, archival-quality, signed Giclee prints of her works on cotton art rag paper.
Fiona is an experienced wildlife illustrator. She has illustrated
4 books to date and provided illustrations for many publications and wildlife
organisations.
In the past she has also worked in different mediums in other formats e.g. fabric
painting, metal-painting, murals, glass-painting etc.
She has produced many private commissions and has sold paintings
Australia-wide and internationally. She has participated in many group
exhibitions, gallery displays and window art displays. She has had a
number
solo exhibitions of her paintings: earlier ones at the Australian
Museum, 1987, and
at
Hunters Hill, Sydney, 1998, and a major showing at the
Blue Mountains
Botanic Garden, Mt Tomah, entitled "Wollemi Wild Things",
from December 2012 to January 2013.Since her initial showing
at Blue Mountains Botanic in 2012, she was fortunate to be invited back for regular annual or
bi-annual themed solo art exhibitions over a 5 year period. Fiona wishes to pass on
many thanks to the staff there for their encouragment and
the opportunity to develop her nature art and educate viewers
about wild nature.
She
conducted a Nature
Drawing Workshop weekend and
students' exhibition at historic Eskbank House, Lithgow in 2008. From
2012 to 2017 she ran a number of nature art workshops at the
Blue Mountains
Botanic Garden in conjunction with her art exhibitions.
She was a member of the Blue Mountains Artists Connection group of
mountain artists. She has
been an exhibiting member of the Botanical Art Society of Australia and
also the Wildlife Artists Society of Australasia and has won the Thomas
Nelson Australia Award for best drawing with WASA.
She continues to work on new regional bird art posters - a time consuming process.
Framed artworks
on display at "Wollemi Wild Things" exhibition, Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, 2012-13.
Wildlife Art and Conservation:
Fiona sees her wildlife art as hopefully a link to foster greater
understanding and connection with nature and the intricate wild
ecosystems that sustain us. Conservation priorities become more urgent
as wild places shrink or are increasingly degraded. In the time she has
been
birdwatching she has seen many once common bird species be reclassified
as
Threatened and Declining: depressingly a continuing process. She is
acutely aware
that extinction is indeed forever but it often doesn't have to be that
way; the choice is ours to share the world. Whilst
hoping that education and exposure to the beauty of nature
through art, photography, literature and other media, will
stimulate increasing awareness and concern for more and more people,
direct
action is also needed to halt the slide to extinction for many of our
precious species. A long-time member of Birds Australia (now Birdlife
Australia) and other
conservation bodies, she still finds time between work and other
commitments to
participate in tree-planting, survey work and conservation-directed
artwork etc. It is all growing as time goes on.
Fiona and her partner, John French, have a 100 acre
bush
property in the hills behind Koorawatha, near Cowra, Central NSW. It
preserves a small parcel of now
rare Western Slopes woodland habitat and a suite of Declining or
Threatened bird species.
The property has been networked into the Cowra Woodland Birds
Program (Birdlife Australia) as one of their survey sites where data is
collected to observe trends in woodland birds and learn more about their
habitat
requirements.
The "Box-Gum Grassy Woodlands" of the Western Slopes are one of the most endangered
ecological communities in
Australia. 80-95% of this agriculturally productive land has been
cleared and what little is remaining is mostly on private
property. John and Fiona have put a Voluntary Conservation
Agreement with the Nature Conservation Trust of NSW on their own
property:
a covenant that will protect the land from degradation; whoever the
future owners are. They encourage other land owners to consider
protecting remaining bushland.
PS. The Nature Conservation Trust is now the Biodiversity Conservation Trust
For further information on protecting habitat on private land contact:
Biodiversity Conservation Trust of NSW: www.bct.nsw.gov.au or
NSW Department of Environment and Heritage: www.environment.nsw.gov.au/cpp/ConservationPartners.htm
Incidentally, Fiona and John are also very much enjoying their time
getting to know a little bit of the
Australian bush intimately. Away from it
all in a rough bush shed!
Creek near Koorawatha
Articles about the artist:
BLUE MOUNTAINS LIFE MAGAZINE - OCT/NOV 2012.
Article written by Leigh Marchant Email: leighemarchant@gmail.com
"CONNECTED ELEMENTS " - OZ ARTS MAGAZINE WINTER 2015
A feature article on Fiona and her artworks was published in
Oz Arts Winter 2015 edition.
The article has been written
by the very talented creative writer Leigh Marchant and features a
number of Fiona's artworks with a back story on their development. Contact:
leighemarchant@gmail.com
Thanks also to Carolynne Skinner - editor of Oz Arts and a wonderful
supporter of the arts and artists in the Blue Mountains and beyond.
See my news page for a small copy of the article
For the full article on-line or to purchase copies of the magazine visit www.ozarts.net.au
"ART
FROM THE BOWERBIRDS" - OZ
ARTS MAGAZINE SPRING 2017
A feature article on Fiona and her artworks, published in
Oz Arts Spring 2017 edition...
This
time I've been brave and written the article myself - featuring (and starring) our
wonderful Australasian bowerbirds. And stars they are indeed! Our
bowerbirds are amazing avian artists - so much fun to research and
depict.
A big thank you to Carolynne Skinner,
editor of Oz Arts, for once again supporting and promoting the world of
artists in the Blue Mountains and beyond.
For the full article on-line or to purchase copies of the magazine visit www.ozarts.net.au
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