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Birds of Lord Howe Island art poster

Successful launch at the Island Museum - April 2023

Birders spread wings - fly across ocean to use birding skills on Lord Howe Island.....(and launch a bird poster).

Having finally finished my 4th regional bird art poster, this time for gorgeous LHI, it was high time to get it launched into the upper atmosphere. So, we flew to the island at the end of April and presented the poster (with a slide show on how to paint a bird poster in easy steps!) to a brave band of locals and visitors at the LHI Museum on April 6, 2023.

My partner John French (Frenchy) and I are long time bird surveyors and on-the-ground conservationists. We’ve made many good friends through our volunteer work. So, we brought along 5 of our Cowra Woodland Bird Program surveyor friends as a boost for the launch audience.

A tough gig for them, but they were up for it. Of course, we all also enjoyed getting closely acquainted with the island’s wonderfully tame and beautiful local birds. However, some of us spent a bit too much time chasing down some recent vagrant bird arrivals to the island: errant grebes, coots, and crakes. It might have been easier to tick them off back at home on the western slopes!

After a week of frenetic birding and networking, the launch and poster signing at the Museum (with an introduction to island birds by famed island naturalist Ian Hutton) was well attended and very successful, despite awful weather for the cycling/walking audience. Perhaps Frenchy and Fiona accosting every tourist they ran into with bird anecdotes and a “by-the-way-Fiona’s-having-a launch” might have helped. Anything to shut us up. They didn’t quite shut us up - birds are worth talking about! Happily, after the talk and slide show on bird poster creation, there is now a whole swathe of people well equipped to create their own! There are still plenty of regions to cover, after all.

I was also invited to do a talk for the island school students - who came across as very well informed on their local birds, both extinct and existing. Some of the students even knew how to pronounce Gerygone – quite a tricky one (pronounced je-rig-gon-ee BTW). Many students professed to being keen artists. Perhaps they will make better budding bird poster artists to take over the mantle. It takes decades to master the complex skills of both art depiction and extensive bird knowledge.

Since our first visit in 2016, return trips to the island have been really inspiring for us. It’s been good to see how the wildlife and plant communities are flourishing since the 2019 introduced rodent removal. Fat and very-satisfied-looking Woodhens are everywhere and getting very bold: taking to stealing shoes and pulling out shoelaces. Seabirds now nest successfully back on the main island. Thousands of Providence Petrels swarm in the evenings all around Mt Gower and Lidgbird and now nest right down to sea level. They land squabbling at your feet if you holler loudly. Better for flatlander birders from Cowra & even for less-than-totally-fit Blue Mountaineers. A truly magnificent experience for any bird lover.

I spent 3 intensive and painstaking years planning and painting this latest watercolour poster. My gift back to this wonderful and well looked after island. It features 55 species of birds within local habitat - from regular residents and visitors to a smattering of occasionals - but no grebes, coots or crakes. After all, you never know what exotic visitors might turn up on an incredibly beautiful island.

Fiona Lumsden Photos courtesy: John French

Latest bird art exhibition at Richards Financial Services Katoomba.

"COUNTING ON THE BUSH BIRDS"

A big thank you to RICHARDS FINANCIAL SERVICES who are currently kindly displaying 13 of my limited-edition giclee artworks in their front reception office from 1st May 2023. They have a rotating display of local artists' works.

Directly contact Fiona for sales information.

Still on display July 2024. Thank you for my long run!

Em: fionalumsdenart@gmail.com or mob: 0490 456 826

180 Katoomba Street, Katoomba.

A funny thing happened on the way to the accountants…

Artists, like everyone, have to count their sheckles, and account for them at the end of the financial year. Very late after the financial year end for artists. 😉 It’s not all beer and skittles… or paint and brushes.

Richards Financial Services, at the bottom of Katoomba St, has long offered a lovely exhibition space in their front office for local artists. So, I have just hung my 2^nd little exhibition there. Thank you.

We couldn’t resist a tangential “angle” on the location, so the exhibition of 13 limited edition giclees is called…. “Counting on the Bush Birds”.

Here’s the little intro for the exhib, playing with words, but also a more serious message about counting birds for conservation and how to get into recording birds for citizen science.

“COUNTING ON THE BUSH BIRDS”

BIRD ART EXHIBITION by FIONA LUMSDEN

Limited-Edition Archival Art Prints on Cotton Art Paper

Accounting for some of the bush birds that can be seen in and around the Blue Mountains. 😉

It is good to count birds. We need to know what is happening, and why, with our fast declining native birds. Birds are prominent and essential components of the natural ecosystems that run a healthy planet for us all. We count on them. They now count on us, for help.

Wildlife artist Fiona Lumsden and her partner wildlife photographer John French have been surveying birds for many years: around the Blue Mountains, Cumberland Plain and on the Western Slopes. They survey for Birdlife Australia, for local Bushcare, Swampcare, Landcare and other conservation and education projects.

Fiona has used her almost 50 years’ experience studying birds to inform her bird portraits and her regional bird art ID posters. She does her best to combine aesthetics and accuracy to educate and engage.

If you are just getting into watching birds, try Birdlife Australia’s Birds in Backyards and the Great Aussie Bird Count to learn more about birds, how to help them or to start surveying your local garden birds.

Otherwise, Fiona’s 4 regional bird ID posters are helpful starters for the Blue Mountains, Capertee Valley & inner Western Slopes, Sydney bushland and, now, Lord Howe Island… if you are lucky enough to be around there!

There’s lots to enjoy and intrigue when you get into birds. Wherever you are.

IN PROGRESS:

BIRDS OF LORD HOWE ISLAND ART POSTER (as at May 2022)

3 field trips, much research and consultation, 1 year of drafts-planning (20 - 30 full and partial drafts) and almost 2 years of intensive hand-painting, then Photoshop adjustments. Locked in the studio during Covid got me a long way! Getting closer.

It was all proving to be so much work that I finally decided to finish and release the "existing bird species" version first. After I've had a break, I'll tackle the research and planning that needs to go into my somewhat more controversial extinct/rewild version - hoping to stimulate conversation about conservation. The recent rodent eradication on the island makes re-introductions of similar bird relatives to the lost species more possible but it would still be really hard to plan and execute, no doubt. I've built spaces for these species in my overall composition. I can then paint the bird pairs on a seperate piece of art paper and drop them in by Photoshop. There'll be necessary re-arrangements of existing items and backgrounds. Well, that's my plan anyway!

Final version of this one, with key and numbering, is almost ready to go to the printers for 1st artist's proof print and final check. Fingers crossed!

Lord Howe Island bird poster draft idea – intro. November 2020.

I'm flat out lately and my website is falling behind the times. It's kinda clunky to set up - especially images and links. I find it quicker to put things on pre-set Facebook, I'm afraid. Anyway, belatedly, here is the intro for a new poster project I've been working on for sometime. If you can, please look up my open Fiona Lumsden's Wildlife Art page on Facebook for posts on poster progress, process and images. Link is on my front web page. Thanks.....

It’s been a few years now since my last regional bird poster project took wing. Long enough for me to forget just how much concentrated work and research is involved in a poster creation.

For the last year or so I’ve been quietly working on drafts for my next poster theme. This time for the birds of Lord Howe Island.

There are a number of things that have to work for me before I decide on a new region for a bird poster. It has to have a distinct regional “feel”, a fairly distinctive suite of birds, attractive and adaptable landscape elements and a cohort of people that really appreciate, or identify with, that area - so I can serve up their birds “on a platter” for them to enjoy and get to know! Also, importantly, I personally have to be inspired to take on this amount of work....so I need to come up with a composition that I hope is good enough.

So, this time, I’m doing a whole island! A new challenge.

And what more beautiful and stunning an island than Lord Howe Island, 600kms east of Port Macquarie. Dramatic seamounts and plunging cliff lines, lovely beaches, endemic Lord Howe Island palms, subtropical rainforests, high misty cloud-forests and an aqua-green lagoon with the world’s most southerly coral reefs. A fairy tale Jurassic Park-like setting for the winged descendants of dinosaurs to inhabit. It’s been an isolated refuge for winged immigrants over the millennia. Only birds, windborne insects, a few micro-bats and some raft-borne, flotsam small animals have made it to this isolated oceanic island. There’s been sufficient time for new land-bird species to evolve, cut off from the rest of the world - those that were lucky enough to make landfall and thrive on this speck in the ocean. Islands are also hugely important for nesting seabirds. Well-adapted to life in the air and on water, they are often clumsy when they come to land to breed and they have very vulnerable eggs and young.

There is danger in paradise, unfortunately. Many island species are endemic to particular islands and, because of their restricted ranges and small populations, they are particularly prone to extinction. Some island birds have also lost their ability to fly because they have evolved without mammalian predators. When humans settled on oceanic islands, they often brought invasive predators (mice, rats and cats) along. It is these introduced predators that mostly caused the extinctions of island birds. In fact, over 90% of all bird extinctions over the last 500 years have occurred on islands.

Lord Howe has lost about 9 species of endemic birds since it was first found by seafarers. Others, like the Lord Howe Island Woodhen, have been saved by habitat restoration and captive-breeding programs. In a long process of restoring the island’s ecological health, feral pigs, goats, cats and many weed species have been painstakingly removed from this World Heritage island. In 2019, after a long and intricate planning process, 1000s of introduced rats and mice were eradicated. The rodents were severely impacting the natural ecosystems of the island. It looks to be successful but it will be a while before the island can be definitely declared rodent free. Efforts will be ongoing and will need ongoing funding. I'm told the birds and plants are responding already.

To showcase this remarkable island’s heritage, I’ve worked up a poster draft with most of the island’s resident and visiting bird species in a highly modified and compressed island landscape. I’ve done about 25 drafts and sketches for my poster idea already. An environmentalist friend suggested why don’t I try a version with extinct and possible “rewild” bird pairings (close ecological relatives that could be reintroduced to replace the lost species) integrated into the poster landscape. Reintroductions are an interesting possibility, now the rodents are hopefully all gone. But a delicate and difficult one. It will need a lot of thinking through, consultation and research. You also need to know people are on board with such an innovative change.

I’ve put a lot more effort than usual into creating a fairly useable full-colour pencil drawing, on my waxy drafting paper, as a “Past, Present, Future - Rewild” version of my original poster idea. I’ve sent it off to the island for the local school to use and to see what people think. The final hand-painted watercolour will have much finer detailing and better researched plants and birds.

I’ve had some valued feedback from local and visiting bird experts already, but my selection and presentation will always be a bit controversial I guess. I’m a real newbie to the island, with a lot to learn. But I do hope a poster with the birds all on one page can help augment the wonderful educational resources they already have. There are many knowledgeable and dedicated people on the island. They’ve done a fantastic job of preserving and restoring the natural beauty of this gorgeous gem of the Pacific.

The “rewild” version, if I go ahead with it, can hopefully give the extinct birds a more enduring presence in our psyches....and, if we can all work on repairing past damage ....a germ of hope for the future.

Comments welcome.

For the birds. ;)

A new exhibition was in the planning for the gallery at Lithgow Visitor Information Centre for May 2020.

Unfortunately it has had to be put off because of the current Covid 19 restrictions.

It was to be a joint exhibition with my photographer partner John French - a first for us, but a natural pairing.

We both love exploring nature subjects in the field. Our subjects will be sourced from our research in the greater Blue Mountains - including Lithgow and the Capertee and Wolgan Valleys. John's large format canvas photographic prints will be a good contrast to my small but elaborate watercolour compilations.

Hoping to pull this together at a later date.

My little collection of birds, bugs and wildflowers from the Western Slopes woodlands had a 2nd chance to blossom after a winter showing at Young's Burrangong Gallery. It toured to the exquisite Japanese Garden at Cowra. A big thank you to Kayla and the Garden for securing me one of their sought-after exhibition spots so quickly. I've been very lucky.

Despite the awful summer bushfires raging around the Blue Mountains and elsewhere, a friend and I still managed to get to Cowra just a day later than planned and hung the exhibition in time. On display were 26 limited-edition, framed giclee prints on cotton. As usual, there was a strong educational emphasis to the exhibition - supplemented with the chatty, informative story cards I write for the pictures. Many of the featured natural history subjects have been researched from field work done on our many visits to our bush block in the hills behind Koorawatha near Cowra.

"Birds of Sydney - Coast and Bushland" regional poster.

PRICE REDUCTION! November 2018

I’ve been lucky to have my poster picked up by the Office of Environment & Heritage’s Community Engagement Dept. and they are distributing 100’s of copies of my Birds of Sydney poster, as part of their natural heritage program across Greater Sydney.

Now, being able to get the printing cost down a bit by buying larger numbers, I’m happy to be able to offer the Sydney birds poster for a lower price.

So….directly purchased from myself (the artist):

* Unlaminated copies are now $28 each and

* Laminated are $38 each.

Postage and packaging is $10 within Australia for 1-3 posters.

The poster has 170 species on it, is large (51 x 72cm) and very detailed. It is on very high-quality acid free printing paper. All my work is carefully printed in Australia – by Clickmedia, Penrith.

Also....... I'm creating a " Birds of Sydney poster - Up Close " series on Facebook

Fiona Lumsden's Wildlife Art Page

I'm cutting up the large and elaborate poster into habitat or bird group sections and writing chatty little stories about the birds in each section and the associated local vegetation and critters I've snuck in too.

An easier way to see all the little details in the poster and get a bit more information about Sydney's wonderful birds.

I was invited to be feature artist at my childhood village of Mt Wilson as part for their 2017 annual fund-raiser for the local RFS. The art and photography exhibition was held in the village hall on 23rd and 24th September. Spring is a lovely time to visit this beautiful hamlet on volcanic soils nestled amidst the Wollemi National Park. Always worth taking the time to explore the spring flowers both in the village and in the bush. It was full circle for me, Mt Wilson is where I first learnt to love and paint nature.

A very successful exhibition with good sales and a good outcome for the local RFS and the Mt Wilson/Mt Irvine communities.

"ART FROM THE BOWERBIRDS " - OZ ARTS MAGAZINE SPRING 2017

A new feature article on Fiona and her artworks has been 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. See also my About the Artist page for a low-res 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 BIRDS - NESTS & BOWERS SOLO ART EXHIBITION

My latest solo exhibition with Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mt Tomah ran for 6 weeks from 10 June to 23 July 2017. Final tally of works hung... 34! My biggest so far.

The theme of "Art from the Birds - Nests and Bowers" allowed me to have a lot of fun with the creativity of the birds themselves as inspiration for my artworks and the little story cards that I love to do with them.

Our wonderful bowerbirds were particularly fun to research and paint. They build love arbours in which they paint, they decorate, they sing and they dance. The more I find out about them, the more I am amazed at their creativity, cleverness and some of the parallels they have with human artists.

So there was quite a big education/come fun sideline to the exhibition with plenty of info on birds as artists and crafty creators.

As usual I am grateful to the Garden for allowing me to develop my art through these continued solo showings for the last 5 years.

Along with the exhibition we held an art workshop on the theme at the Garden on Sunday the 16th July 2017. We had a great class of enthusiastic bird lovers on the day and we had a lot of fun.

In these themed workshops all levels of students are catered for, from beginners to advanced. Casual, fun and flexible. There is a strong emphasis on learning about nature subjects and plenty of scope to allow you to develop your own particular line of creativity in a supportive atmosphere.

Enquiries for future art workshops :
Phone: 02 4567 3019
Email: kristen.winder@rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au
Online: www.bluemountainsbotanicgarden.com.au/whats-on

NOW AVAILABLE:

"Birds of Sydney - Coast and Bushland" regional poster.

170 bird species in habitat.

My mega project of 7 years is back from the printers for a first print run.

After checking test print-outs at various sizes I've decided to go for the full size version of the original artwork: 51 x 72cm rather than reduce to a standard A2.

After so many years of painstaking work it seemed a shame not to be able to see all the tiny details I squeezed onto the original.

I'm still going for top quality 12 colour printing on 180gsm archival matte paper done by a professional printer - Clickmedia, Penrith.

It is available in laminated or unlaminated versions.

Please note the actual poster will not be watermarked with copyright details and will be full resolution quality.

Prices:
Unlaminated (best if you wish to frame yourself) $28 each plus P&P $10 within Australia.

Laminated great for attaching straight to the wall or a door) $38 each plus P&P $10 within Australia

Please email me at my new art email address: fionalumsdenart@gmail.com for sales enquiries and purchases.

(My older email address will still work too).

Also see my Contact and Sales Page on how to pay for artworks generally.

Now also available retail at:
Ku-ring-gai Wildflower Garden........420 Mona Vale Rd St Ives
Megalong Books........183 The Mall Leura
The Nook Craft Co-op........133a The Mall Leura
Gleebooks.......Collier's Arcade Blackheath

Best wishes to all the beautiful birds of Sydney and surrounds.
May they wing their way into our hearts so we look after them and keep them with us for ever!

In memory of my brother Iain - June 2016.

Also see my facebook page for extra information and insight into the process of creation.

Facebook link:

Fiona Lumsden's Wildlife Art Page

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Mid-2016

Unfortunately my art workshop for "Birds From Life", at Blue Mountains Botanic Garden on Sunday 28th February 2016, had to be cancelled due to very serious health problems in my family. Big apologies to those who had already booked a spot. Hopefully when things settle down we can have a go at it again. I had some good prep for it done already. Birds are a fantastic subject to study.

I also had to cancel my planned-for Spring 2016 exhibition at Blue Mountains Botanic Garden on "Nests and Bowers". It is being rescheduled for winter 2017. Working hard now on some new compositions.

Best wishes,
Fiona.

PS Supporting art exhibition for "Birds From Life" was a great success.

BIRDS FROM LIFE

This latest exhibition had more of an emphasis on lively depictions of birds from my studies in the field: from small cameo portraits to more complex life history amalgamations.

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Exhibition and art workshop on Waratahs, Wildflowers & Wildlife - spring 2015

A successful exhibition of 15 of my limited-edition giclees was shown from 5 September till 18 October at the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, as part of the Garden's very popular "Wild about Waratahs" festival.

Extending the waratahs theme to include wildflowers & wildlife allowed me to sneak in a diversity of birds & insects as well. I love being able to write and display associated story lines with the works I exhibit and share information about our wonderful wildlife and some of the challenges they face.

We also held an art workshop on waratahs on Sunday 4 October. Everyone appreciated the chance to study these challenging but very beautiful flowers up close.....with great results. A big thank you to Kristen, and all the other staff at the Garden, who work hard to bring these classes together.

Bookings :
Phone: 02 4567 3019
Email: kristen.winder@rbgsyd.nsw.gov.au
Online: www.bluemountainsbotanicgarden.com.au/whats-on
Also see their facebook page for the latest news on events.
waratah& wildlife 2015

Fiona has finally put up an open "Wildlife Art Page" on Facebook.

Click on link below to see new works (especially ones from her limited-edition, archival range) with associated story lines and extra information.There will also be works in progress, art workshop information and previews of her latest "Birds of Sydney" art poster as it comes closer to completion.

Fiona Lumsden's Wildlife Art Page

"CONNECTED ELEMENTS" - FIONA LUMSDEN

A new feature article on Fiona and her artworks was published in Oz Arts Winter 2015 edition. The article was written by the very talented creative writer Leigh Marchant and features a number of Fiona's artworks with a back story on their development. Email Leigh on leighemarchant@gmail.com for creative writing assistance.

A big thankyou also to Carolynne Skinner, editor of Oz Arts, and a wonderful supporter of the arts and 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

BOTANICA 2015 - THE BIRDS AND THE BEES

NEW BOTANICAL EXHIBITION REPRESENTATION FOR FIONA
(NOW FINISHED)

This was the first time that I've applied for selection to this important and exclusive botanical art exhibition.

Sales went well for me with one unframed original and 6 limited edition prints sold. Proceeds benefit the work of the Foundation and Friends of the Botanic Gardens.

A very interesting exhibition with some fine work.

Botanica 2015 flyer

Following on from the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden's Plants With Bite! Carnivorous Plant Fair, Saturday 6th December 2014, Fiona taught a botanical art workshop on Carnivorous Plants and Other Curiosities on Sunday the 1st of February 2015. In December 2014, there was a supporting display of 6 or 7 of Fiona's artworks for sale at the Garden's visitor centre: exploring some of the possibilities of this subject. As well as native carnivorous plants, such as sundews and bladderworts, Fiona depicted other strange plants that function as insect traps - such as our bizarre terrestrial native orchids. And of course she snuck in some insects with them!

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Fiona's art workshop, held on Sunday the 9th of November entitled Butterflies, Bees and Jewel Beetles , explored the possibilites of combining insects with botanical compositions.
A really lovely class of enthusiastic and talented students delved into the small world of insects and came up with some great artworks.

Image featured above: "Happy Wanderers" - Hardenbergia violacea, Lesser Wanderer butterfly, Fruit-sucking Moth,
Swordgrass Brown butterfly and Common Spring Bee.

Art workshop at the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, July 2014.
"Birds of a Feather - return to the nest"
Building on the popular theme of "Feathers" from her workshop in February 2014.

Students learnt about individual feathers, feather groups and bird anatomy. It was also an opportunity to combine the beauty of feathers with botanical art and other natural history objects.

The image in the flyer above is a detail from one of Fiona's latest compositions: a composite natural history piece on the critically endangered Regent Honeyeater, based on fieldwork in the Capertee Valley .

A big thank you to RICHARDS FINANCIAL SERVICES who kindly displayed eight of my Limited Edition giclee artworks in their front reception office duirng June and July 2014. They have a rotating display of local artists' works.

180 Katoomba Street , Katoomba.

"Feathers and Shells" Limited Edition Giclee Print

The Birds of a Feather art workshop with Fiona on Sunday 16th February 2014 at the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden proved very successful. It was fully booked out with a waiting list and all participants enjoyed the theme.

As part of the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden's Waratah Festival held during September 2013, Fiona conducted an art workshop on Waratahs

Fungi and Life in the Leaf Litter Art Workshop

An art workshop on fungi was conducted at the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mt Tomah, on 2nd June 2013.

An exploration into the micro world of the leaf litter with its myriad small organisms that complete the carbon cycle for all of us.
Short lived and unpredictable fungi fruiting bodies provide mysterious and intriguing subjects for photography or artwork.

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Following on from Fiona's December/January 2013/14 Wollemi Wild Things art exhibition, the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden offered art workshops with the artist in February and March 2013. It was a chance for the students to explore the intricacies of the natural world through art observation and gain an insight into how this artist works from her field studies. Both classes were fully booked out.

Painting featured in flyer: "Box Mistletoe and Butterflies" one of Fiona's newest artworks avaliable only through her archival, limited edition, giclee print range at Blue Mountains Botanic Garden or through her studio.

"Green Peafowl Pair"
by Fiona Lumsden

Limited Edition Archival Giclee

Conservation Fundraiser

A special commission from the World Pheasant Association, Australia, to raise funds for the conservation of the endangered Green Peafowl, Pavo muticus.

The iridescent and elaborately beautiful Green Peafowl presented special challenges for Fiona. Having access to Mark Baker’s fine collection of Green Peafowl for live study was a great help.

In the composition the artist has tried to highlight the special features that distinguish this lesser known species from the widely kept Indian or Blue Peafowl. She has focused on the striking facial patterns, long spiky crests and elegantly long, green-bronze, scaled necks of the male and female birds. The elaborate train of the male peacock is represented by tail covert feathers of 3 different types at the base of the composition.

The subtleties of the original painting have been faithfully reproduced by a high quality, Giclee print process with archival materials in a limited edition of only 20 copies.

Limited edition prints of the Green Peafowl, framed or unframed, are currently available by contacting:

Mark Baker Email: mark@potterscottage.com.au

or Fiona Lumsden Email: lumfio@yahoo.com or phone 0247 826577

The Green Peafowl is an endangered species.

Why are they endangered? Widespread hunting for meat and feathers, and collection of eggs and chicks, combined with habitat modification and human disturbance, has caused a catastrophic decline throughout much of the species range. (www.iucnredlist.org )

The World Pheasant Association plays a leading roll in the conservation of pheasants, peacocks and related species and their habitat. (www.pheasant.org.uk, www.wpaoz.com).

The WPA helps develop conservation skills through training and education of people especially in countries where pheasants and related species are found including India, Nepal, Burma, Vietnam, Malay Peninsula, Sumatra and Borneo.

WPA supports and takes part in conservation projects both in the wild and in captivity. Designing conservation schemes that take account of, and where possible improve, the livelihoods and welfare of local communities, encouraging the sustainable use of natural resources.

New solo exhibition for Fiona Lumsden finishes successfully

at the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden.

15 years after her last solo exhibition, Fiona had a new showing of her works. It was at the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden, Mt Tomah via Bilpin, Bell's Line of Road.
Entitled "Wollemi Wild Things"- an exhibition of works from nature captured by wildlife artist Fiona Lumsden on her Blue Mountains field trips."

Fiona grew up at Mt Wilson amidst the Wollemi National Park and has studied the flora and fauna of that region for decades. She is also familiar with the Capertee Valley and Dunn's Swamp on the western borders of the park from many camping and field trips to these beautiful places. In this exhibition she drew on her fieldwork and existing compositions from the area as well as executing new subject compilations.

Because the offer of an exhibition to be done within a year gave, in fact, little time to call "nature to order" to deliver up subject material and put it to paper, Fiona decided to call on her limited edition, archival, Giclee print stock to give her the breadth and variety she needed for a targeted exhibition of the secretive natural creatures of this area. The exhibition showcased 26 framed pictures in A3 and A4 formats. They were in different sub-themes with flora and fauna from: the basalt-capped peaks of the northern Blue Mountains, the Capertee Valley, the Greater Blue Mountains generally and special interest themes of cicadas, mistletoe and orchids. It was also a rare chance to view the original artwork for her posters of "Birds of the Blue Mountains" and "Birds of the Capertee Valley".

The exhibition turned out to be very successful - standing room only at the opening, great publicity, good attendances overall and lively interest in the subject matter. The artist hopes that the theme of the exhibition did its little bit to raise the profile of the complex, but sometimes elusive, flora and fauna of the beautiful Wollemi wilderness area.

Fiona would also like to pass on her thanks to the very helpful staff of the Blue Mountains Botanic Garden - who made all this possible and also made it a very pleasurable and encouraging experience for her.

Birds of New Guinea field trip - West Papua, September 2012

Fiona has finally realised a 30 year dream to go birdwatching in New Guinea.

New Guinea's avifauna, to her, has always been a beguiling mix of the familiar and the exotic. Of its more than 800 species, many have close links to Australia, but with its rich tropical forests and mountainous terrain these relatives have blossomed into a bewildering array of strange species. Most famous for its Birds of Paradise (39 species overall, of which Australia only has 4), there are also 3 species of Cassowary in New Guinea, plus ribbon-tailed Paradise Kingfishers, many colourful parrots, giant Crowned Pigeons and a myriad of secretive forest birds.

A 3 week trip to West Papua, with skilled guides from Papua Bird Club, gave her a tantalising glimpse of some of what the island of New Guinea has to offer. 8 species of the incredible Birds of Paradise at their display grounds plus so many other amazing birds, colourful tropical insects and flowers, varied scenery and friendly, helpful locals: all made it the most amazing trip for the artist and her intrepid birding companions.

One day she hopes to get together enough material for an exhibition of paintings from this exotic and beautiful but rapidly changing part of the world: right on our doorstep but too often overlooked.

Fiona and her friends have done a number of slide shows for bird clubs, sharing some of the wildlife wonders and also the practicalities of visiting this wild, and largely unknown to westerners, part of Australasia.

To learn more about the Birds of Paradise family, one of the bird wonders of the world, please look up the Cornell Lab of Ornithology's website item: www.birdsofparadiseproject.org


Magnificent Bird of Paradise, Arfak Mountains	Showing field drawings of birds to children near Wamena	Crested Berrypecker, Lake Habbema

Photos: Coypright - John French 2012

Lake Habbema, Snow Mountains, Papua. Photo: John French