C.M. Simpson: Art and Photography: photographer

Tuesday, 9 September 2014

CROSS-POST: Wattlebird in Spring (Anthochaera carunculata)

Another spring cross-post from my writer's blog:

It's coming up to Spring in Canberra, and the cherry trees are out in bloom. There will be cherry blossom festivals - one in Cowra and the Nara candlelight festival in Canberra itself. Worth going to, if you're in the area. I can't make the Cowra festival, but I have hopes for this year's Nara.

In the meantime, we're having a lot of visitors to the garden that love the nectar to be found in the cherry blossom. This is a red wattlebird. The one's in our area are very shy so I was pleased this one decided the nectar was more important than worrying about me.

At first all I could see was movement, and then I realised I had a visitor.

He was cautious, at first,

and stopped feeding to take a good look at the pest with the camera,

but soon, the cherry blossoms caught his eye, again,

and he went back to feeding,

before flying away to investigate the blossoms on another tree.

You can find out more about wattlebirds at the following sites:

I also found a couple of Youtube videos:

Sunday, 2 March 2014

C.M. Simpson: An Introduction

Most of you know me as the C.M. Simpson that writes - well, some of you know me as the C.M. Simpson that writes - and some of you have never heard of me at all. I have been posting my art and cover work on my writing blog, but I thought it needed a space of its own, just to make it easier to find. And for those of you who don't care about my writing, but do like seeing what I'm doing with pictures. So, this is my new blog focused on my art and photography - two fields I find myself increasingly passionate about.

I will start by reposting a number of entries from my C.M. Simpson: Writer blog, including the Australian Birds and Spiders posts and the more recent posts I've completed documenting my exploration of how to use Gimp in creating digital art. Those last are more a journal, as I discover how to improve my art, and learn how to use a new tool.

This blog will feature photographs of birds, insects, arachnids, flowers, as well as locations I find myself visiting and book covers I design. Here is a sample of what you'll find here: