Lesley Smitheringale

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.

I would often see really good sites with similar aims but they are all 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 into 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 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.)

I see it as a community which we will visit often and help each other out and I can’t count the hundreds of hours I have spent scouring the Internet for information on all of the previous things I have mentioned. After now doing it the hard way and bookmarking a lot about sites and blogs, finding out ways to design a website, the best online shops, how to self-publish a book, where to purchase matte boards and so on, why not share this knowledge with a community? Remember also, that it won’t cost you a cent, totally free – just your time and willingness to share in order to promote the arts in Australia.

I only hope that you will share my vision and help this site grow as I think it has so many wonderful opportunities. If you join and you have your own, fresh ideas – things I haven’t condsidered then please let me know or start a new forum discussion in the relevant groups.

What you will get for FREE if you join “Oz Nature Niche”:-

• your own personal page which is customisable with themes
• rss feeds and the ability to embed your own rss feed from your website or blog
• create your own gallery or portfolio, artist bio and resume, links to your other sites iincluding REDBUBBLE.
• your own blog with option to include pictures and create an rss feed of this blog
• join and create forums
• invite friends to your Group(s)
• join specialised Wildlife Groups within Oz Nature Niche such as Fine Artists, Photographers, Digital Artists, Manga Cartoon Illustration & Comics, Crafts Merchandise & Textiles
• critiques and constructive criticism of your work
• make friends and connect with fellow Australian artists
• ask for and give technical help and tips within your Group(s)
• add gadgets and widgets to your own personal page and Group page
• add videos including YouTube etc
• add music to your own page and group pages
• engage in Live Chat within all of the Groups in Oz Nature Niche
• lots of exposure, networking opportunities and marketing possibilites
• create a Badge to advertise Oz Nature Niche on your existing website and blog plus many more features still to come ….

Hope to meet you on the Nature Niche. Check out the site here

Kind Regards

Lesley