Official eZine produced by Lesley Smitheringale Fine Art

Issue 2 AUS $4.00

JUNE 2009

SETTING UP
A WEBSITE
for newbies

SHOPPING
CARTS sell
your work on
your website

RECOMMENDED
WEBSITES, BOOKS
& SOFTWARE
for wildlife artists and
photographers

FEATURED
ARTIST
Mike Moats

Photograher

AIR BRUSHING
STEP-BY-STEP
Tutorial by JW Baker

Nature
Journaling in
Currumbin Valley,
Australia

FEATURED ARTIST
Ilse Kleyn’s stunning Free Wallpapers with
1 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue
wildlife in oils Calendar Dates
 Interested in advertising, being a featured artist,
guest writer or contributor in Nature’s Paint Box
eZine? Drop me an e-mail with links to your
product, site or work.

lesley@lesley-smitheringale-fine-art.com

Welcome...
...to the second issue of the official Nature’s Paint Box eZine
produced and published by Lesley Smitheringale Fine Art.

Another jam packed issue to inspire and motivate you including; featured artists –
Mike Moats, JW Baker and Ilse Kleyn who are experts in their chosen fields and share
their outstanding artworks, my latest nature journaling bush walk in the Currumbin
Valley, Queensland, Australia, how to go about setting up a website and selling your
work using a shopping cart, learn the art of airbrushing and lots more...

There are the regular features such as recommended books, blogs, websites and software
to instuct, educate and inspire you in your artistic endeavours, Nature in the News plus
a selection of International Art and Photography Exhibitions and Competitions for you
to see and enter.

You are always able to order back copies of earlier issues if you wish and remember that
you save money by subscribing for a Year (4 eZines). At the end of the Year you will also
be able to purchase all 4 eZines on a CD Rom which can be mailed out. This will be
available in early December making it a perfect gift in time for Christmas.

All are available at Lesley Smitheringale Fine Art Shop

I hope you enjoy this Issue and I would love to hear your comments and suggestions for
future issues.

Lesley Smitheringale

Lesley Smitheringale, Editor, Designer,

Producer & Writer
lesley@lesley-smitheringale-fine-art.com
http://www.lesley-smitheringale-fine-art.com

2 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue

 Cover artwork “Eshelokee” by JW Baker,
“Snatch
airbrushed acrylics & Grab”, King
onto hardwood Parrot by
panel
Lesley Smitheringale

Recommended Books on page 29

Free Monthly Wallpapers on page 45

© JW Baker

REGULARS in every issue FEATURED ARTISTS

29 Books
Recommended Books for
40 Blogs & Websites wildlife artists, nature
Recommended sites to inspire, lovers, photographers
educate and simply enjoy and crafters

5 Garden Guests Diary

Nature journaling in Currumbin
Valley by Lesley Smitheringale
11 Mike Moats - an American
professional photographer who
sees art in nature through a
macro lens.
31 Exhibitions on wildlife,
flora & fauna, nature & 20 JW Baker – stunning airbrushed
landscape artworks of American indigenous
wildlife onto handmade boards
16 Competitions and denim fabric.
Current Art, Craft and 46 Nature in the News
Photography Competitions Seen and heard in
36 Ilse Kleyn – this talented
the news and
South African artist’s love of
blogosphere
49 Software horses and all God’s creatures.
regarding art &
A review of Shopping Carts
wildlife.
for your Website

3 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue

 Airbrushed Artworks by American
FEATURED ARTISTS artist JW Baker Page 20
Art in Nature by American
photographer Mike Moats Page 11
© JW Baker

© Mike Moats

“Greeting the First Snows of Winter” pastels

© JWby Baker
Eric Wilson

Oil Paintings by South

African Artist Ilse Kleyn
© Ilse Kleyn Page 36

TUTORIAL FREE DOWNLOADS ARTICLES & REVIEWS

24 The art of Airbrushing 45 MONTHLY WALLPAPERS 41 HOW TO SET UP A WEBSITE

Step-by step guide with or without Calendar for the complete newbie – a
by JW Baker dates to download must read!
Learn about the medium,
techniques and resources
of this stunning art form.

42 SHOPPING CARTS
what is the best one for your
website?SSSSSSSS

4 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue

NATURE’S PAINT BOX by Lesley Smitheringale NATURE DIARY
Official Ezine

Such a beautiful bird and you can tell he is a youngster by the dark plumage above
the eye and his head feathers were sort of fluffy. Here he is right in front of me,
fanning his wings and drying them off.

He was constantly on the alert and looking around him and in the
water the whole time then he seemed to be aware of my presence and
looked straight at me but was not alarmed and continued to be on the
lookout for food or predators by the Creek.

After checking out potential

predators, grooming and drying off
his wings in the mid morning sun,
my juvenile friend then flew down to
the pond to find some tucker and he
kept ducking and diving - this bird
has the most peaceful, idyllic,
undisturbed habitat and he is so
lucky to be in this gorgeous
rainforest environment with plentiful
water, food and potential mates. I
thoroughly enjoyed the quiet time we
had together but I decided to leave
him to find his food and move on in
my rainforest walk.

8 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue

 NATURE DIARY by Lesley Smitheringale

There was a really strange insect

There was appearing
who kept a really strange
alonginsect
the
who kept
Creek appearing
and along
when I got closethe
he
Creek and
seemed be “walking
to when on water”
I got close he
seemed to be
with very “walking
long on water”
legs. I have never
with
seenvery
this long legs.
insect I have
before and did
never seenathis
not have clueinsect
as tobefore and
what he
did notbe.
might have
Heacertainly
clue as to what
he might be.
impressed meHe certainly
with his ability to
impressed mewater
walk on the with his ability to
without
walk on the water
disappearing without
below the surface
disappearing below
so it piqued my the surface
interest and I
so it piqued
tried to getmy interest
as close as Iand I to
could
tried to get
him in as to
order close as I could
identify the to
him in order to identify the
critter.
critter.

Nature Journal of the Water Strider

After doing some research I discovered that this pond walking critter is a water
strider or pond skater which is a very apt name considering what I saw him do
and walk normally as if there was no water under his long legs! He seemed to
float above the water and dart across it which was fascinating to witness. How
lucky this fellow is to live by a Creek and to hunt insects in and near water
without having to actually enter the water or view the water as an obstacle.

Nature Journal of the Common

Eggfly Butterfly

this female butterfly seemed

intent on keeping me company
for a while and posing for the
odd moment or two.

9 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue

 Featured Artist Mike Moats

Website www.tinylandscapes.com
e-mail mgmoats@yahoo.com
Job Title Professional Nature Photographer
Country of Birth USA
Country of Residence USA

Available for commissions Yes

An interview with...

Mike Moats
When did you realise that art What or who has inspired you throughout your artistic path?
had to be part of your life?
I am completely self-taught and learned from experimenting and
I started shooting in 2001 just never really searched out other photographers for inspiration as I
for fun and it soon turned into was getting all the inspiration from nature itself. I am very lucky
an obsession. As I started to to have inherited good artistic genes and naturally developed on
have some success with my
images being published in
photo magazines, I realized I
had a natural ability to spot
art in nature. In 2005 I began
building a photography
business that quickly turned
full time.

What is your favourite media and why have you

chosen to work with these media and techniques?

My first 35mm camera and set of lenses came from

eBay, but within a couple years I realized that the
future of photography was digital, so made the
move and bought my first digital camera and have
loved it ever since. I started as a landscapes
shooter but lost interest as I stood shoulder to
shoulder to about forty other photographers
shooting one of the icons in Yosemite. I needed
images I could call my own that no one else had
shot, and I found it in macro photography. All of
the images I have in my portfolio only lasted for a
short period of time before the environment erased
them, and I was the only one to witness and
photograph them, so they are my own personal © Mike Moats
images.
Wood Frog, Michigan

11 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue

 NATURE’S PAINT BOX COMPETITIONS
Official Ezine

Postcard Art 2009 Competition Previous Entries

The Curt Teich Postcard Archives at the Lake County
Discovery Museum is pleased to announce a call for
entries for the eighth biannual Postcard Art Competition
and Exhibition (PACE). The juried competition celebrates
the postcard as an art form and challenges artists, over age
18, to create original works of art in 4-by-6-inch postcard
size.

The deadline for submissions to the PACE

competition is July 13, 2009. Art in any two-dimensional
medium reproducible by photographic process is
acceptable, as is three-dimensional work with a depth no
greater than three-eighths of an inch. Winning artworks “Nesting Swan” by Jean Cook, 2nd Prize
will be included in an exhibit that opens in October 2009
at the Lake County Discovery Museum, near Wauconda,
and then travels to various local galleries and cultural
institutions for approximately one year.

Work will be judged on overall creativity, content,

technical expertise and ease of reproduction within the
postcard format. Cash prizes will be awarded to the top 12
entries. All entries are eligible to participate in an art sale
in July 2009.

The Lake County Discovery Museum’s Curt Teich

Postcard Archives contains the world’s largest public “Lincoln Park” by Cindy Sartain
collection of picture postcards and related materials, with
catalogued images dating from 1893 to 1978 that relate to
over 10,000 towns and cities in North America and more
than 87 foreign countries. The Lake County Discovery
Museum’s permanent exhibition “Bringing the World
Home” showcases many of the Archives’ postcards.

For more information and to download a prospectus and

entry form visit www.lcfpd.org/pace.

“Blind Fawns” by Doug Travis

18 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue
 Featured Artist

Website www.wolfsongstudio.com or jwbaker.wolfsongstudio.com or www.jwbart.com

e-mail jwb@jwbart.com or jwbaker@wolfsongstudio.com
Job Title Artist
Preferred Medium Oils
Country of Birth Austria
Country of Residence USA
Available for Commissions Yes

An interview with...

JW Baker
When did you realise that art had to be part of your
life?

I think to be accurate I would have to respond by saying it

wasn’t until I was about 20 years old when I realised that
art WAS a part of my life and had always been. I have been
pushing paint around as my best way of expressing what
was within that could not be expressed in words, for as
long as I can remember - starting with finger-painting at
age 4, and up until now with the airbrush and ‘hairy sticks’
- painting has always been my best form of
communication. There has not been a time I can remember
when I wasn’t painting in one medium or another... © JW Baker
“Fox shows the Way “, 2006, Mixed Media – oil pastel &
water soluble oils on handmade 12 x 16 “ texture panel

What or who has inspired you throughout your artistic path?

I was originally inspired by the comic book Artists of my childhood - Jack “The King” Kirby, Joe Kubert, Sam J Glanzman,
and Barry Windsor-Smith. I taught myself to draw by emulating the artwork and styles created by these Artists. Frank
Frazetta was also a major influence - his dynamic use of colour to make his statement is awe-inspiring! With regard to
people I know personally, one of my inspirations (and someone I consider a mentor) is Artist Mike Segal. Another is Dee
Morris (who I considered a brother) - Artist, Blacksmith, Navajo trained Silversmith, he was (is) a source of constant
inspiration and very important in helping me find that connection between the art and it’s ‘spiritual’ connection to the
source of pure potential of all possibility... Dee passed away in 2006 and I miss him greatly.

My wife Sandi is another important inspiration on my “artistic path” in the ‘here and now’ - it is an unbelievable asset to
have someone you trust that you can work along side of, to help you on your creative journey when you cannot be
objective about your own work. Being that she is an extremely talented Artist in her own right, she is also a constant
source of inspiration through the work she creates.

19 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue

 “Mountain Lion – Guardian of the North”, water soluble oils on 12 x 16”
commercial canvas ©JW Baker, Wolf Song Studio

20 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue

 NATURE’S PAINT BOX
Official Ezine
Airbrushing on to Denim Step-by- Step by JW Baker
13
Using a base of 10 drops Titanium
White, I start with one drop of
Burnt Sienna, and begin working in
the area of the nose - as I continue
I add a couple more drops of Red
Oxide, then a couple drops Raw
Umber, then one drop Dioxazine
Purple and finally one drop Carbon
Black until I have completely
defined the nose with each
successive color variation.
16
To add further color
intensity to the fur and
begin to refine some of the
fur texture, I use a mixture
of 10 drops Raw Sienna, a
couple drops Burnt Sienna
and a drop of Raw Umber.
25 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue
TUTORIAL
14 15
As I continue, I use a deeper value of the
Having completed the ‘under-
previous mixture, comprised of 20 drops Titan
painting’ of the shadow values,
Buff, 2 drops Yellow Oxide and a drop Raw
I start with the overall fur color
Umber - this is added only in the areas that are
- using a mixture of 20 drops
recessed; those areas which are perceptually
Titan Buff, 2 drops Hansa
further from the viewer, to create the illusion
Yellow Medium, I cover all the
of depth and dimension - notice as these colors
fur areas that will end up the
are layered over the darker under painting that
‘tawny orange’ that we
the image begins to indeed look more like a
associate with Tigers. This mix
Tiger. As before, this color is used to help
is also used to begin to define
define the depth of the eyes as well as adding a
the eyes.
bit of highlight to the nose.
17 18
Using a base of 10 drops Raw Sienna, Using 8 drops Titanium White, and 2 drops
I add 2 drops Yellow Oxide and a few Paynes Gray and a drop of Ultramarine
drops of Red Oxide, and 10 drops Blue, I refine the white fur areas. Then I use
more of AB Medium to give a bit of Titan Buff and last Titanium White - with
transparency to the mix - with this each successive layer of color, the illusion of
mix I add more color intensity to individual stands of hair is reinforced; first
certain areas of the fur, more depth with the Blue/Gray mix being that
to the eyes, and also a little more background areas, Titan Buff ‘mid-ground’
refinement to the nose. and Titanium White as the foreground and
obvious single strands.
BOOKS NATURE’S PAINT BOX Official Ezine

“Images from Birding”

by Michael Warren
A collection of paintings and sketches
that document and describe many
memorable observations, mostly form
the last twenty years of birding
around the British Isles and Eire.
From patchworking to twitching, all
these drawings and paintings
illustrate a particular moment. Many
of the captions are taken from
Michael's field notes written at the
time of the observation. The pictures
reflect Michael's continuing delight
and fascination with birds.

“Dance of the Brush” by

Ralph Thompson

Dance of the Brush spans some seven

decades of the artistic life of Ralph
Thompson, known for his illustrations
of the Gerald Durrell books. This
wonderful book chronicles Ralph’s
early life through art colleges in Leeds
and London and onto his artistic
career after the Second World War.

His text describes how he is always

searching to improve his technique
and the art of his painting. He recalls
interesting episodes when travelling
through Africa and India hunting wild
animals with his sketchbook, many of
whose pages are reproduced.

We also see the finished studio work;

some from his personal collection and
others collected together, to be
included in this celebration of one of
the greats of wildlife art in the 20th
century.

His special affinity with and his

ability to capture an animal’s
personality gives his paintings and
drawings an immediate appeal.

Source: Langford Press UK

Source

30 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue

NATURE’S PAINT BOX EXHIBITIONS
Official Ezine

32 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue

 Featured Artist

Website http://www.artofkleyn.co.za
e-mail ilse@artofkleyn.co.za
Job Title Full-time Artist
Preferred Medium Oils
Country of Birth South Africa
Country of Residence Cape Town, South Africa
Available for Commissions Yes

An interview with... Ilse Kleyn

When did you realise that art had to be part of

your life?

Since I can remember art was in my blood. My

mother painted and I grew up with the smell of oil and
turpentine in the air. My first painting was done when
I was 16 years old. Must admit - I did not quite like
painting. I only wanted to draw. Sketching and
drawing I did my whole life. I loved doing pencil
portraits. That is the reason why I joined the Police
Force. I could draw while making a living. When I
joined the Police 18 years ago, I worked at ID-Kitt,
drawing wanted criminals, stolen goods, etc. It was
only about 6 or 7 years ago that I really started to
paint. I only did small painting for family and friend.
Soon the paint bug bit me and I could not stop. After
much prayer I decided to leave the Police after 16 years
and paint full-time. August it will be 3 years now.

What or who has inspired you throughout your

artistic path?

No - I can't say that I have someone who inspired me.

I can say that I have people who believe in me and in
doing so, made me realize the dream is not only a
dream - with hard work it can be achieved. It was my
husband who believed in me and took my work to
galleries. I was too afraid to go with him. Today I get
galleries phoning me asking to exhibit in their gallery.
He stands out by far!!!
© Ilse Kleyn
‘Horse Perd”, oil on canvas by Ilse Kleyn

35 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue

 Featured Artist Ilse Kleyn

What are your goals as an artist and where

would you like to see yourself in five years
time?

I have written a whole list of goals for myself in my

diary last year. Here are some points:

I want to be acknowledged as a great artist.

I want to win a big art competition.
I want to have a solo exhibition
I want to be invited to exhibit overseas.
Bottom line – successful in my career!
(Difficult in a time when modern, contemporary,
weird art is the “in” thing!)

Top right: ‘Zebra”, oil on canvas

Below: “Zebra Eye”, oil on canvas © Ilse Kleyn

© Ilse Kleyn

38 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue

 NATURE’S PAINT BOX
Official Ezine
HOW TO SET UP A WEBSITE for the
complete newbie by Lesley Smitheringale
Speaking personally, I found this whole website thing to be a
very steep learning curve and being an artist was a curse in this
instance as I was not happy just to accept the default templates.
However, I managed to find an easier solution.
I already had a blog using the free wordpresss.com site but it
wasn’t enough and I knew that I wanted to be able to design
and update my very own website without relying on a
technician or anyone else when I wanted to update. I also knew
that I wanted to sell work on my site and would need some kind
of shopping cart. So began my endeavours of website creation
with the aim of spending the least amount of money I could on
the whole package. I investigated a lot of software, both free
and paid and it really was through trial and lots of errors that I
settled on a solution I am very happy with.
This advice is for those of you who:-
know roughly what you want on your website,
want to manage it by yourself re. uploading artworks, writing
blog articles, selling items etc, have basic knowledge of word
processing, FTP uploading, some photoshop knowledge, image
resolution etc
STEP 1. You need to purchase a domain name and a hosting
provider. (These can usually be set up at the same time from the
hosting provider). Your website or domain name is a bit like
setting up a business and making sure that nobody else has
already claimed this business name. Make sure that you are
happy with your Website name as it can’t be changed once you
have set it up. Go for the shortest name you can think of so
that people will not have too much trouble remembering it and
it’s easy to type into the web browser. You can always have
another longer name on your banner. You need to consider if
you want it to be .net or .com or .au etc.
Hosting providers are everywhere but make sure that you shop
around for the best deal depending on your requirements such
as how much space you will need on your site (for images,
videos etc), quality of support, the stats for the hosting
provider’s down time – you don’t want your website to be
“down” if you’re running a business, the set up costs and then
montly/yearly costs. Make a list of what you really want out of
your website, check out other websites to get a flavour of what
you can do on your site then make it unique for YOU.ures
arranged on a global map, enjoy video playback, and more.
How to install/uninstall a program
using Fantastico in cPanel
40 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue
ARTICLES & REVIEWS
Also, I wanted to be able to integrate a blog with my
website and it was important to me that my hosting
company could integrate Wordpress into the site.
Fantastico offers a suite of software for instance that
a lot of hosting providers will offer you. This is
brilliant as you can then install a whole myriad of
programmes on your site such as Wordpress,
Shopping Carts, Joomla, etc without having to do this
independently. Check that Fantastico is provided.
Fantastico is a commercial script library that
automates the installation of web applications to a
website. Fantastico scripts are executed from the
administration area of a website control panel such as
cPanel. Fantastico's web site claims that they are
installed on ten thousand servers, with a million users
worldwide, which would make it the leading product
of its type. cPanel is not difficult to use.
Hosting providing is very competitive and some
providers wave the set up cost or domain name cost
but lock you in for 1 to 2 years. This is not a problem
if you are happy with the provider and some of the
cheapest deals around are about US$6.50 per month
which is excellent value. You also have to renew your
domain name every year for a fee.
STEP 2. You’ve thought up the name of your website
and you’ve picked a hosting company so you go for it
and do the deal. Your hosting company has provided
you with the domain name and space you need, but
you are now faced with getting your website created
to upload to your server for everyone to see! Scary
stuff but it doesn’t have to be.
 NATURE’S PAINT BOX ARTICLES & REVIEWS
Official Ezine

Here are some other good alternatives which are not all resctricted to using WordPress. The level of your HTML
experience may determine which ones are best for you but some of these I found quite difficult to get my head around as
my coding knowledge is very limited. I have not tried all of these but I have included them because they get good reviews.

Click on the images to visit websites.

Magento Zen Cart ViArt

Restricted to 50 products in the free

version but also light, standard &
Free Open Source version and new Zen Cart free e-commerce, open enterprise versions available.
Enterprise edition – steep learning curve source shopping cart software.
for beginners

PayPal Shop Maker yak

Further Reading: Useful info on
the CPANEL Website

There's a lot to know about Web hosting,

and this guide will help you understand
it all. We've rounded up everything you
need, from basic definitions to our Web
Hosting How-To. You can read the guide
straight through, or skip directly to the
chapter you want.

Chapters

 What is a Web site?

From the Website: “Creating a PayPal shop
Another free alternative  What is Web hosting?
to sell your products on your website was
for Wordpress  What is the procedure for
never easier. With PayPal Shop Maker you
building a Web presence?
can build your online shop without the need of
learning how to integrate PayPal.”  What is e-commerce?
Purchase Price US $99.95  Which hosting plan fits my
needs?

17 New Rules for Successful E-Commerce Websites good article by randfish at SEOmoz.com
about important things to consider when setting up an online shop.

43 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue

NATURE’S PAINT BOX
FREE DOWNLOADS
Official Ezine
Lemon Migrant Butterfly

MAY JANUARY
Free Wallpapers to
download and enjoy!
These free nature wallpapers
are available via this eZine and
at Lesley Smitheringale Fine Art
Website for your desktop in
three different sizes:-
JUNE FEBRUARY
800 x 600 for laptops

1024 x 768 for most standard

monitors

1440 x 900 for widescreen

monitors

These are original, high

resolution photographs I have JULY MARCH
taken and you have the choice
of downloading them with or
without calendar dates.

CLICK ON THE PICTURES TO

SEE LARGER WALLPAPER
IMAGES, CHOOSE YOUR
RESOLUTION AND DOWNLOAD

AUGUST APRIL
© Pam Johnson Brickell

September, October, November and December Wallpaper links will be available in

the next edition of Nature’s Paint Box eZine, out in late August 2009....
All photographs are copyright of the artist Lesley Smitheringale

44 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue

 ANIMALS IN THE NEWS
Meet Antares, the newest cub, named after a star in
the Milky Way, is the 171st Siberian tiger born in the
East Berlin Zoo. His handlers packed him in a basket
before presting him to an adoring crowd. (Pictures
courtesy of Reuters)
“Well, hello there!”
Drop dead gorgeous!
SeaWorld animal trainers in Orlando have their
hands full with four baby Asian small-clawed
otters, seen March 30, 2009. (Photo and caption
submitted by Jason Collier/SeaWorld Orlando)
46 | Nature’s Paint Box eZine 2nd Issue
Polar bears Bill, right, and Lara react, at their first meeting, at
the Zoom Erlebniswelt zoo, in Gelsenkirchen, Germany, Friday,
April 17, 2009. Polar bear Bill came from the zoo in Bruenn,
Czech Republic, as a new partner for female polar bear Lara.
(AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
Gorilla infant Kiburi sleeps on her mother Safiri's
back, during sunny weather at the zoo, in
Duisburg, Germany, Wednesday, April 8, 2009.
(AP Photo/Martin Meissner)
This photo provided Friday, April 17, 2009 by Chicago's Lincoln
Park Zoo shows a Bolivian gray titi monkey carrying a baby on its
back. Native to South American tropical forests, there are less than
50 individuals in accredited zoos. The newborn, which has yet to be
sexed or named was born on 9 April 2009. (AP Photo/Lincoln Park
Zoo,Greg Neise) b