Hello all, Rich here – taking the reigns of blogging duties and all things web from my wife so she can get some long needed rest and relaxation. In the midst of this rest, she is still sketching out new ideas and working on new paintings so we’re not expecting any significant down period. We are going through a pretty challenging chapter of our lives but we are not allowing this to stunt the development and growth of our business. And as she said, I’m picking up where she’s leaving off for the time being. It is our responsibility to our loyal customers, friends and most importantly to our overall mission.

With the birth of Ecopatterns, we took on the responsibility of utilizing art and social media to raise and spread awareness about animals most folks won’t know are endangered, and to back it up with factual information. This may seem like a modest responsibility to shoulder, but we feel it is critical for the future of the planet. We feel it would be particularly sad if elephants, giraffes and even little monkeys are spoken of in the same vein as dinosaurs a few generations from now. We have an opportunity to prevent this from happening especially if the threats are coming from things we have the power to control. So I wanted to extend a big thanks to everyone who has supported our mission thus far and those that continually encourage and help us spread the good word. Without you guys, we’d accomplish so little, and for that we are incredibly grateful. We look forward to keeping up the fight.

They swing in trees and eat bananas. Some are mischevious, but most are playful. That is the typical image that comes to your mind when you think of a monkey. But what is not abundantly clear to the world is that these same monkeys are rapidly dwindling in population all over the world. Unless awareness is wide spread, the situation will grow dire globally for our closest relatives with fuzzy little heads. What is more glaring is that a quarter of the 625 known primate species and subspecies are at risk of extinction. The primary threats to all primates are deforestation, commercial bushmeat hunting and illegal trade. Bushmeat? Are you that smug that you honestly want to eat a monkey?

In honor of these little cuties, I was inspired to debut and devote my latest painting, Monkey Playground to this cause. As always, note cards will be available soon (check back regularly) while 8.5×11 Art Prints are up for grabs right now. And you don’t even need to climb a tree to get one.

As the temperatures clocked in at around 70 degrees, it signalled the return of outdoor market selling. Yay! Ecopatterns was back in full force in Union Square for the entire past weekend. Returning to the scene of where we made our public mark a year ago felt almost like the first day of school all over again. Yes, butterflies were there, but pretty soon the familiarity took over and we were back to business. We met some our long-time friends and collegues, and I think this is a great opportunity to introduce and share their works with our viewers. Definitely check out : Kristiana Parn, Michael Murray (yeah, that’s him making fun of me in the photo), Michelle Han, Victor Spinelli, Edie Piijpers, and Kenny Kudulis. They are all fantastic talents and we are honored to be working alongside them all as they inspire and encourage us to keep going.

With the smell of spring, art and commerce in the air, we started sketching out our approach to this year’s outdoor artist market plans. We had lots of questions like – how often will we be in Union Square this year? Are we going to try other venues? What will be our new release schedule like? While our short-term plans are not quite fully worked out, we’d like to share at least what we are thinking at the moment. First off, I’d like to happily introduce the ecopatterns twitter account. Until today, I was directing followers to my personal twitter account and recently realized that not everyone will want to hear about non-ecopatterns updates. That said, the new dedicated account will be used for up to date announcements and deals that will co-exist with our awesome facebook fan page. Because we deal with unpredictable weather as well as changing consumer trends, we are going to use social media more and more to give everyone a weekly peek into our calendar and schedule as we attempt a slew of different venues along besides our comfort zone, Union Square. Thats more like it, right? So keep an eye out on our updates and tweets, and you’ll always know what we’re up to.

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!