Garden Orb Weaver

April 25, 2016November 22, 2016 ~ laura lecce ~ 15 Comments

I thought it about time for another spider, also a very common species on the east coast of Australia. Don’t worry, just like the St Andrews Cross spider, this is also one of Australia’s friendly spiders which wont kill you. The garden orb weaver is a beautiful arachnid, easily identified by its signature plump belly. It spends the early evening making a magnificent web and spends the night sitting in the center, waiting for an unsuspecting winged insect to fly into this brilliantly formed trap. During the day, the spider will leave the web and tuck itself away in a rest spot, often a leaf very close to edge of the web. If you are walking around and get a face full of spider web, its usually from these guys, thankfully its most often without the spider on your face too!

Flower Friday – Magnolia

April 22, 2016April 22, 2016 ~ laura lecce ~ 13 Comments

Imperfect Magnolia - Photograph by Laura Lecce — Imperfect Magnolia – Photograph by Laura Lecce

I have to premise this post with the confession that I don’t really like magnolia flowers. I love seeing the trees in full bloom, like a giant cloud of pink color as in the photo below. New York springtime is at its prime at the moment, and the magnolia trees in central park really make a stunning statement.

Magnolia Tree in Full Bloom - Photograph by Laura Lecce — Magnolia Tree in Full Bloom – Photograph by Laura Lecce

However, when you get closer, there is something imperfect about each flower that disappoints me every time. Maybe its that they have no obvious order, or symmetry about them. Or that by the time the innermost petals open the others look close to dropping off. They are pretty mostly because of the color, but far from making my favorites list. Still very worthy of a photo though, happy weekend everyone!

Magnolia Flower - Photograph by Laura Lecce — Magnolia Flower – Photograph by Laura Lecce

What a Poser

April 20, 2016July 25, 2016 ~ laura lecce ~ 14 Comments

This stunningly beautiful reptile finds its home in a resort in Aruba, a beautiful island in the Caribbean. Actually I was surprised and delighted to find that many iguanas use the resort pool, and surrounding display rocks for their own personal sunning spots. Even more relaxed than the tourists on vacation, these iguanas are so accustomed to having people around them, that they were most obliging to model for some close up portrait photos.

Spring Joeys

April 18, 2016November 22, 2016 ~ laura lecce ~ 6 Comments

In Tasmania, like many places around the world, springtime means a lot of youngsters are finally out roaming around. Pademelons are marsupials (they have a pouch) which are particularly abundant in Tasmania, Australia. Baby pademelons are born at any time throughout the year, though higher numbers are born at the start of winter and spend the first 6 months in the warmth and safety of mums pouch.

Flower Friday – Doritaenopsis Taisuco Micky

April 15, 2016April 15, 2016 ~ laura lecce ~ 5 Comments

Doritaenopsis Taisuco Micky - Photograph by Laura Lecce — Doritaenopsis Taisuco Micky – Photograph by Laura Lecce

These cute and happy flowers belong to a beautiful little orchid that is a cross between Phalaenopsis Golden Peoker and Doritis Pulcherrima, thus the amalgamated name Doritaenopsis. Each cross will have flowers that are slightly different (more or less dark/light pink, more or less ruffling of the petals), and is an easy and welcome addition to any home orchid collection. Have a wonderful weekend everyone!

Hop To It

April 13, 2016November 22, 2016 ~ laura lecce ~ 6 Comments

This gorgeous wallaby was photographed in Tasmania, Australia. Native to Australia, these beautiful animals are in the same family as Kangaroos but were informally designated as wallabies due to their generally smaller size. Interestingly, there are a number of feral populations of wallabies in various places around the world including Hawaii, England and France because these bouncy critters are great at escaping from the zoo!

Baby Croc

April 11, 2016April 28, 2016 ~ laura lecce ~ 7 Comments

Even the largest and scariest of animals were once a cute little baby (except birds which definitely get cuter with age). This adorable baby crocodile is contently sunning itself in a river in Cairns, located in far north Queensland. As cute as this little guy may be, where there is a baby, there must be a mummy and a daddy. Cairns is home to saltwater crocodiles, currently the largest living reptiles, and the much larger and more aggressive cousin of the freshwater crocs. It made me very glad that I was in a boat on this river and not in a small canoe!

Flower Friday – Hibiscus

April 8, 2016April 28, 2016 ~ laura lecce ~ 15 Comments

Hibiscus - Photograph by Laura Lecce — Hibiscus – Photograph by Laura Lecce

Whenever I see a hibiscus flower I immediately associate it with tropical vacations. Beautiful and large flowers, they come in a variety of stunning colors. In Australia we have a hibiscus harlequin bug (Tectocoris diopthalamus) which is also brightly colored, but a dreaded pest to the hibiscus plant. It will pierce through the stem of tender shoots and flower buds to feed on the sap, causing the buds to drop off. These bugs also feed on cotton, a few Australian natives and some fruit trees. Once a female lays her eggs she will stand guard and protect them. In Australia we call them stink bugs because when they get disturbed, they release a very bad smell which triggers mass smell production from nearby friends. Happy weekend everyone!

Hibiscus Harlequin Bug - Photograph by Laura Lecce — Hibiscus Harlequin Bug – Photograph by Laura Lecce

Unforgiving

April 6, 2016April 8, 2016 ~ laura lecce ~ 32 Comments

A hot and burnt landscape of fiery red hills with a river running dry. A lone brittle tree struggling to survive in a desolate and unforgiving environment. What chance does the tree have to flourish, when the land is so unsupportive of life…. Is this my future?

This painting took me a very long time to finish. Sometimes I feel like I have a certain idea in my head as to what I want to paint and then try to force that idea into a painting. This one had quite a few evolutionary changes along the way, and finally I had to stop fighting it and just allow it to be what it wanted.

Underwater Castle

April 4, 2016April 28, 2016 ~ laura lecce ~ 1 Comment

This small coral structure looks like a beautiful underwater castle. It is a hard coral which is home to millions of teeny tiny individual polyps in a castle constructed out of calcium carbonate. Other likely residents within this castle are single-celled algae. The algae use energy from the sun to make sugars and fats which they share with the coral allowing it to grow faster. The coral animals also make waste which feeds the algae. Together they make a very large and happy family of teeny residents in a beautiful castle. They even have a blue Christmas tree worm as a pet in the yard!