Spring is in the air, around the corner. Well, I guess only in the air since there is still snow on the ground where I live.But that is not stopping us from looking forward to warmer temperatures and running around in Central Park. Speaking of my favorite place to unwind, word got around that several wild animals have been spotted in the park of late including coyotes, crazy little raccoons and owls.

I became recently fascinated by owls due to their distinctive behaviour and features and varied looks. Hey, they are cute! These handsome little birds became the inspiration for my latest little painting I completed last night, “Do You Think Spring is Here?“. What most folks don’t realize that many groups of owls are suffering critical declines in population. In Malaysia for example, a recent news story reported that owl poaching is on the rise – particularly for trade and for hunting purposes. A high level raid that exposed a wild-meat trend operation centering on owls fortunately raised awareness to such illegal practices. So our little hooting friends are in danger and we take note. Give a hoot.

Last November, my husband and I were visiting family in Bangkok. During our stay there, we spent most of our early morning breakfast time watching one of the most talked about channels in Thailand – the Lin Ping Panda Live Cam. Best reality TV show ever! It’s basically a live feed of a baby giant panda’s day-to-day life in a Chiang Mai Zoo with her mother. My husband and I were absolutely drawn to this adorable, playful baby based on our love for pandas. Hey I have a bunch of baby stuffed pandas at home.

Anyhow, the little panda inspired me to redesign and reimagine the panda pattern I posted last year to include a second little panda as they play and frolic about their young, uncomplicated lives. As we all know, these beautiful creatures are endangered, and I feel it is our duty (as panda lovers) to spread the word and hope of the animal that is the symbol of preservation, as well as WWF’s logo mascot.

That being said, we’d love to debut our newest addition to our lineup, the Playful Pandas available in art prints and note cards. Let me know what you think.

The other night, we watched ABC News in NYC report on the plight of the Punta Tombo Penguins. It was a very poignant story and yet another reminder how there are species of the world we may take for granted, that could be gone tomorrow. One quote that stuck with us was when renown penguin researcher Dee Boersma assessed “…when penguins aren’t doing well, they’re telling us that our world isn’t doing well.” Heavy, but true. We thought this article and story would be a perfect way to re-introduce you guys to one of our earlier pieces in our catalogue : the Penguin Note Card, part of our First Edition Note Card Series.

Speaking of the note card series, we decided to do something a little different than what we were used to in the past week. I was finishing up my sketch of two new playful pandas when my husband talked me into printing the actual sketch on a note card prior to me painting it. Lo and behold, it was a neat little experiment that turned out to look fantastic. I put these lovely little pandas up for sale on my personal Etsy shop, so definitely check them out and let me know what you think.

Sometimes, a change in surroundings is needed. Over the past year, most of our success and headway was made in Manhattan (particularly in the Union Square Artist’s Market) as well as ongoing interactions and collaborations with artists from Brooklyn despite being temporarily headquartered in Queens. After much thought and planning, Ecopatterns decided that change was a concept we’d dive back into.

This week, we packed our boxes and moved back to our old digs on the Upper West Side of Manhattan (where we originally set up shop for our first year in business). We couldn’t be happier. Not only is this move exciting for us personally, but we feel that it would benefit us professionally as well. See, we see a lot of promise for the Upper West Side artistic community. We know there are a lot of cool, hip folks here that would be open to talk shop and share ideas. Stressing the importance of community is key especially to the development and nurturing of artists and their businesses. While we are doing everything we can in the online circuit (with places like Facebook, Myspace, Twitter, Etsy, etc.) we can’t forget the local, physical aspect of networking. Hey, we can’t let Brooklyn get all the press.

That said, we’d like to give a shout to all of our artist neighbors. We want to hear from you in hopes of getting a dialogue or movement going. What do you work on? Where do you market your work? What are your artistic goals?

Photo credit: Jamie – “From Me To You” Photo Blog <-- please check out her site. it's awesome. also, check out her stunning Upper West Side FREE iPhone Wallpapers set.

We are wrapping up yet another fierce week for Ecopatterns as we have expanded our lineup of Note Cards as we close out January and look ahead to the rest of the year’s plans.

We have been getting a lot of questions on our plan for 2010 and whether we’ll be setting up in the Union Square Market and we figured we’d address it here. 2009 was a banner year for us in the Artist’s Market in Union Square (NYC) and we achieved our fundamental purpose of establishing brand recognition and raising awareness of our endangered animal concerns. That is not to say that we are done with Union Square but our presence there in 2010 will be less noticeable for the foreseeable future. No way! We love being there. Our plan is to select certain weekends throughout the Spring, Summer and Fall to once again set up our display and meet all our new patrons and friends as well as some of our awesome group of repeat customers. We’ve also pegged the Columbus Avenue Green Flea on the Upper West Side as another venue that we will certainly explore. In all, we look to expand our reach as we cultivate our growth with our business.

For more information and alerts about when and where EcoPatterns will be making appearances in 2010 and beyond, sign up to our Facebook Fan Page or follow @Malathip on Twitter!

This February, Chinese New Year will usher in the year of the Tiger. It couldn’t be a more appropriate time for us to introduce the newest member of the EcoPatterns endangered species family – the Panthera Tigris.

Largest of all the big cats, top of the food chain, and one of the most culturally important and beautiful animals on this planet – yet according to WWF, possibly as few as 3200 tigers may be left in the world. This is definitely a cause of heightened concern prompting our founder Malathip to put together her latest masterpiece, Panthera Tigris. It is our hope that as awareness about dilemma of this species spreads, that a more concentrated effort is taken towards preservation. It would be a shame of extraordinary proportions to see this beautiful cat lose footing in this world.

It is said that the intelligence of dolphins rivals that of humans. There are even advocacy groups that are fighting to give dolphins human-like rights. That’s quite a cause, folks. The bottom line is, the dolphin is one of the most loved creatures on this planet due to their playful charm and charisma. But now it is certain that populations are spiraling down to alarming levels – causing a concern amongst conservationists and environmentalists, as well as EcoPatterns. We want everyone to be mindful of this very sad truth.

That said, today we debut our newest piece – Dolphin Couple – on our website. The original painting was completed yesterday by Malathip Kriheli and before we even thought about getting the vector art done for future tee-shirts, we felt the urge to share our newest work through exclusive art prints available now. See, time is precious, and awareness of the plight of these extraordinary creatures must be widespread. This is our goal. And remember, every one of your purchases helps fund our favorite charity, WWF.

2009 was an exciting year for us and we are looking forward to a more prosperous and successful coming year. We will be making a sincere effort to uphold our mission in raising awareness of the plight of endangered animals and environmental concerns. We will be talking to like-minded organizations with the goal of strengthening our ambitions.

We are also happy to announce that EcoPatterns is now contributing monthly donations to WWF and its entirely made possible by your continued support. Rest assured that your purchases of our products will in turn, help a fantastic cause.

We’d like to kick off the year by sharing a new addition to our archive, the Ark Shark. I know, I know – most folks seldom sympathize with the predatory giant of the sea that evokes horrific memories of “Jaws” and tales of attacks on humans. But the reality of the situation is that these magnificent marine beasts are in dire need of attention as their populations are drastically dwindling. Malathip Kriheli designed this new pattern as well as a new painting with great care and a deep concern for the preservation of this awesome creature. ]]> http://ecopatterns.com/2010/01/twentyten-and-the-year-ahead/feed/ 0 http://ecopatterns.com/2009/09/giraffe-shirt-of-september-2009/ http://ecopatterns.com/2009/09/giraffe-shirt-of-september-2009/#comments Mon, 14 Sep 2009 16:31:24 +0000 Malathip Kriheli http://ecopatterns.com/?p=311

In swoops the Fall, and EcoPatterns is standing tall. The tallest land-living animal on this planet is the giraffe ( Giraffa camelopardalis ). Despite their symbolic prominence, their numbers are quickly dwindling due to predators both from the wild as well as “civilization.” Ecopatterns honors the beauty of the Giraffe (our most requested pattern) with 2 shirts this month — our:

» Organic Unisex Crew in Earth Moss Color and . . .
» Limited Edition Slouch Pocket Tee.

Read more about the Giraffe too! ]]> http://ecopatterns.com/2009/09/giraffe-shirt-of-september-2009/feed/ 3 http://ecopatterns.com/2009/08/lion-shirt-of-august-2009/ http://ecopatterns.com/2009/08/lion-shirt-of-august-2009/#comments Mon, 03 Aug 2009 19:02:00 +0000 Malathip Kriheli http://ecopatterns.com/?p=261

Since sweltering August is generally associated with its astrological fire sign, Leo/Singha, we’ve decided to dedicate our newest pattern to the Lion. The Lion is globally recognized as the “King of the Jungle” with its very distinctive and recognizable features. A symbol of regalness throughout human history, the once powerful and mighty beast is now dwindling in population and is in danger. In an effort to raise awareness about the plight of lions, we now have a brand new organic shirt available in our store that we hope gives the great cat the respect & love it deserves while making you look mighty sharp as well.

Read more about the Lion . . .