It’s Shark Week! I am actually pretty surprised and delighted to see that there are so many people across the digital sphere who are actually excited by an animal that has long been feared and discredited. Thanks to the folks at the Discovery Channel, Shark Week celebrates its 23rd anniversary this year, honoring and learning about this glorious creature. Also, because of social networking, Shark Week fanfare is spreading, and leaking over to current generations. Of course, this is exactly the kind of exposure animals need to fully raise everyone’s consciousness about the trouble and obstacales they face for the survival of their species.

As you may already know – late last year I painted a piece called “Ark Shark.” While most may think I am referring to Noah’s Ark (as I notice that Ark Shark comes up quite a bit in our Google Search statistics), its really a much more simple, silly story. When my husband was a child, his sister purchased a fishtank and adopted a few little fishies for their home. My husband decided he, too, wanted to own a fish – so he bought a little freshwater mini shark. He named this mini terror, “Ark Shark” (with the name being derived from his initials – Arie Richard Kriheli). So I decided I to name my painting after his little shark from his childhood. Anyhow, in honor of Shark Week, I am offering a FREE Ark Shark Note Card with a purchase of any art print from our store. Offer ends next Thursday, so get your Shark Week on!

I like breathing clean air. We all do. Now that Earth Day is running 40 years strong as of today, it is showing that recognition is global. Businesses are going green and growing more environmentally motivated. Despite all this, the state of the Earth is still in trouble. We’re losing trees and plantlife at alarming rates as well as losing wildlife to extinction. I started my business a little under 2 years ago to spread awareness and hope and I am pleased with the strides I’ve made. But you know what? We can do better. I am going to up the ante today.

In honor of Earth-Day, EcoPatterns is prepared to give away a free 8.5″ x 11″ art print of your choice to two lucky winners. How do you get one? Easy! Retweet this post and follow @ecopatterns on twitter using our nifty little button below. Later tonight we will choose 2 lucky winners randomly.