"Slumbering Dormouse" - Gougepaintings

TITLE: Slumbering Dormouse

ARTIST: Julie Gouge

EBAY ID: Gougepaintings

Why I'm using my creativity to save the rainforest ...

As earthly guardians of this world we must tread lightly, or else all that we will be known for in the future are the deep, destructive, ugly footprints we have left behind. Down through history, species have come and gone. This is normal. It is the natural cycle of life on earth. However we, mankind, should not hasten this natural progression through our thoughtlessness and greediness.

If we are not careful we just might end up hastening our own destruction. Unlike other animals of this great, green planet, we alone have the ability to destroy our world. We are intelligent. We have the capacity to reason. We alone have the ability to recognize our careless destruction and strive to reverse it. We should not be the cause for the extinction of other species. Nature will see to that. When we are gone, our footprints on this earth should be no deeper than any other species that have passed into history.

This is why I am proud to be an artist whose work is represented on the Endangered Species Quilt. Hopefully, the beauty and symbolism of the quilt will encourage others to tread lightly and to strive to bring healing to the earth.

"Queen Alexandra's Birdwing Butterfly" - jazmin112-2008

TITLE: Queen Alexandra's Birdwing Butterfly

ARTIST: Susan Jane Smith

EBAY ID: jazmin112-2008

Why I'm using my creativity to save the rainforest ...

I've worked for more than 35 years in Nature Conservation in Africa , as an amateur helper, and belong to the International Wildlife Association plus our local Alabama Wildlife Association.

My Grandfather went on an Amazon Expedition from 1911-1915. He told me many wonderful stories about his adventure and this has made me an adventurer too. When he was there the Rainforest was virtually untouched. Today it is endangered and faces terrible destruction every day because of greedy rich businesses robbing it of the wonderful trees.

We have to help all we can to save this habitat. Not only for all the flora and fauna that depend upon it for survival but also because the Rainforest supplies an incredible amount of oxygen that all the people in the World depends upon for life itself. You can imagine my reaction when Starr suggested raising money to buy a piece of the endangered Rainforests . I jumped at the chance to help.

I was so excited that I could help in a small way towards this incredible project. Hence I made my ACEO of the World's largest butterfly, which faces extinction due to collectors.

"Red Panda" - maryhelen22

TITLE: Red Panda

ARTIST: Mary Helen Epps

EBAY ID: maryhelen22

Why I'm using my creativity to save the rainforest ...

Once, when I was young, I watched a documentary of a film crew that had happened upon an indigenous tribe, living deep in a rainforest near the Amazon River. The film makers called the tribe the “flower people” and continually compared them to early man, stressing that this was the tribe’s first encounter with “civilization”.

They were a beautiful people, decorating themselves and everything in their village with a multitude of tropical flowers in all shapes and colors. Their main diet was the pulp of a certain tree, which after the pulp was removed, the hulled out trunk became a canoe, the branches a hut or fire wood. They would celebrate the harvested tree, placing flowers and a new sapling in the spot where the tree had been taken.

They smiled and laughed a lot. They were friendly and more than hospitable to the strangers who had come to film them. It was like a Utopia. I longed to live with the “flower people”. Some time after, I saw “The Medicine Man” and realized that the “flower people” probably no longer existed.

Oh sure, there may still be a tribe, although they were probably relocated and are wearing tee-shirts with words and logos they don't understand instead of flowers. Trying to make whatever money they can, to feed and shelter their children and pay for medicines for their new illnesses. Everyday watching as more of the beautiful trees and flowers they once called home disappear. And knowing their children will never have the chance to experience the beautiful existence that those before them had.

I hope that my participation in this quilt and the money made for the Rainforest fund, will aide in making sure that the Utopia that is the rainforest, never disappears. In a world where so much is taken, we each must strive to give back.

"Chimpanzee" - starrgirlblue

TITLE: Chimpanzee
ARTIST: Star Daubenmire
EBAY ID: starrgirlblue

Why I'm using my creativity to save the rainforest:

When our ACEO ebay group presented the subject "Endangered Species" as a theme for August 2008, I did some research to learn more about it. What I discovered was that not only particular plants and animals, but an entire ecosystem - the Rainforests of the Earth - are endangered. I learned that there is not just one rainforest, but rather there is a string of them running along the earth's equator where they maintain an average temperature of 80 degrees and receive approximately 200-400 inches of rain per year. This allows for a flourishing of life like no other place on earth.

The Rainforests have been around for milleniums, but our modern society has barely begun to explore their riches. In the meantime, humans have encroached into them to the point that more than half of their acreage has already been lost. It is understandable, on a local level, that the logging, farming and mining industries provide sustenance for the people who live in those areas. But the rainforest ecosystem represents a much larger picture that impacts all of earth's inhabitants. These forests are the source of life in so many ways! They provide 20% of the earth's oxygen and are a storehouse of medicinal plants. They are the natural habitat of a great percentage of the world's plants and animals. When we lose rainforest, we lose a source of life that sustains us all.

As an artist, I am an observer of details. I delve into the picture behind the picture so as to portray the essence of a thing. If I can understand anatomy and the structure of bone and muscle, then I can paint a life-like portrait. The viewer sees only the fleshly surface, but it is alive if it contains the structure beneath. In that same way, rainforests are part of our basic structure on earth. They sustain us whether we live in the tropics or in southwest Ohio. They contain unparallelled beauty and mysteries and species of life that are in some way connected to each of us.

Thus, I am extremely honored to be part of this art/quilt project that will raise funds to help preserve the rainforest. Our own small lives only become important when we can make a contribution that is bigger than ourselves. Through art, I have this opportunity to make a difference and I hope the quilt will not only grace someone's wall or bed, but it will help preserve a bit of our environment here on earth.

"The Frog Alchemist" - joy_found

TITLE: The Frog Alchemist
ARTIST: Joy Found
EBAY ID: joy_found

Why I'm using my creativity to save the rainforest ...

The ACEO Endagered Species theme week challenge appealed to me because I have been seeking the best place to put my energies to help the environment. As a family, we recycle, and compost, and garden, and nurture a wide host of wildlife on our acreage but I knew I had to do more. I do my best to be a living teacher, and teach by example with my kids and everyone I encounter, and I just didn't feel like I was doing enough with all the crisis our earth is facing.

When I was invited on board to help facilitate promotion of the Quilt due to my experiences with the National Kidney Foundation of Michigan fundraisers, I was thrilled. When you put out a request to the Universe, I find that you may not get what you expect, but do get exactly what you need, and this project to Save the Rainforest an acre at a time is in perfect synchronicity with my ACEO work and desire to "do more".

A few weeks before the challenge my sons and I had been picking black raspberries and to our joy were greeting by hundreds of bounding baby frogs. We captured about a hundred of them and released them speedily into our various herb and vegetable gardens we've planted around the home. It was a brilliant frog parade, and we had much fun introducing these fabulous creatures to our personal sanctuaries. Each of us has created our own meditation garden we visit daily, and many of the frogs have stayed to become inhabitants nestled in the rocks among the sedum and sunflowers, and other natural structures.

So, you may wonder why the Alchemist Frog? Well, with the preponderance of frogs on our property I began thinking that it was entirely within the realm of possibility that one day human beings would simply be material in jars to be studied by evolved frogs. As a species, humankind seems hell bent on destroying nature, and I firmly contend that the planet was here long before we were and will continue long after we are gone. That said, I would like it to be here, healthy, beautiful, and strong for long into the future. So, like the many frogs we saw that day, I am striving to leave a light footprint, with a strong message that the world is connected, and as we destroying one ecosystem in the name of "progress" we are likely destroying many opportunities for discovering ways to better our existence without harming the existing flora and fauna.

Mankind is not patient. I am trying to be patient, and realize that while I cannot change the entire world, I may be able to save a small portion of it. So, I contribute my art, and my time to help purchase Rainforest acreage. I just hope my efforts are timely enough, and that through the sale of this quilt our ACEO group will effect a positive change on the environment, and raise awareness of the need for everyone to "do more" and "do better".

We've decided to dedicate our fundraising donations to the Cosanga Valley Project. This is an area of exceptional biodiversity in Ecuador, where many of the plant species are endemic, or restricted to this area, including an astonishing variety of orchids, bromelaids, ferns and trees. Mammal species include the mountain tapir, ocelot and puma, and the area is home to 310 bird species, including 30 species of hummingbirds. The Cosanga Valley also hosts a variety of rare species such as the Peruvian Antpitta, Bicolored Antvireo and "San Isidro Owl" that is regularly found only in the Cosanga Valley.

Even though this Rainforest region is across the world from me, I think of it each morning as I sit and drink my tea looking at the beauty of my Baldans Kaleidoscope orchid, and watching the hummingbirds drink from the feeder (we have seven who visit us regularly this year). We are connected, all of us, all living things. This is such a simple truth, and with this ACEO quilt our group places that truth in the hearts of the artist's who have contributed. I hope if you've read to the end of this entry that you recognize this truth as well, and you are now willing to "do more" to help save the Rainforest and work in your own way to sustain life on earth.