Tuesday, April 29, 2008

Bird Family

I have been secretly watching a family of birds for a couple of weeks now. Outside of my son Jacob's room, lives a sweet bird family. Mama, Papa, and three little ones. Just like our family. We have watched the eggs hatch, Mama nesting on her eggs, and then they hatched. And of course, did not have my camera on me during those times. So today, I noticed the baby birds have left the nest. They are off learning to fly and I can't find them. But Mama and Papa know where they are. Here is Mama above watching out for them, where ever they are.



And here is Mama and Papa looking from the nest. What great parents. These birds got me thinking of my own family and how my kids are growing so fast and will someday be leaving the nest. And, I know sometimes I look forward to those day's but it really makes me sad. I do enjoy every day with them, including all the hard day's now and still to come.
Ok... now I'll wipe my tears and get back to painting. -Marnie

Thursday, April 24, 2008

Green and Clean

I am officially taking a couple of days off from filling orders to clean. Let's just say I really have no other choice considering we had another big storm last night. And yes, my pool looks like Shrek again, and I am gracefully trying to get it back to normal. My house needs a little TLC as well.
We are also having a garage sale this weekend! Yeah...I love this time of year. My boys have already cleaned out their closets and their clothes. I really think I could open up a store, we have so many clothes that are going to SELL...sell...Sell.
My kids get in on it as well. I usually make some muffins and OJ to have for hungry shoppers. They are truly great salesman. Just like the annoying people that hound you when you walk by the perfume department...yeah..that's them.
Here in Texas they only allow you to two garage sales a year. Not everywhere, but in most cities that is the law. I love that because, we look forward to it more and it's not so much a chore.

In Cali where I am from, you can have a garage sale every weekend, and yes, I had neighbors who took part in those festivities.
So, I'm off to clean the green pool and the rest of my green home.
Have a great day! Marnie V.

Friday, April 18, 2008

After the Storm


I snapped this photo this morning after a night of hail ...rain ...and tornado warnings. I love how green everything is here in Texas after a big storm. Actually, let me rephrase that. Certain storms leave a clean/green look to everything the next day. Then there can be a bad hurricane type storm, the kind like Dorothy from the Wizard of Oz...scary, that can leave your windows and pool a mess. Last week we had one of those storms and it looked like Shrek had jumped in my pool. I put my pool skills to work and did get it back to the pretty color that it normally is.
But today I am going to enjoy looking out my studio window at the green.
Well, enjoy your day. I'm off to paint and ship and attend my son's baseball game tonight and
won't bore you with the rest...
Marnie

Wednesday, April 16, 2008

Mid Week and Painting

Hello.. I am here, just painting as usual. I am getting out my last Dallas show order this week. It will feel so good when UPS shows up for the pickup. Then I will be taking a couple of days off from painting to get my house back in order. Not that I'm not keeping it picked up, it just needs a good deep cleaning. My two youngest Ryan and Austin know how busy I have been, so they told me today that they are going to help. They are so sweet.
On a another note, this weekend I am heading down to Fort Worth for the Art Festival. My girlfriend and I went last year and we are continuing the tradition this year. The show is filled with all different types of artists selling all different kinds of things. We usually tend to gravitate towards the jewelry artists. I have never tried to show at this event because I have accounts in the area and I have to support my local stores. Plus, I love being able to walk around and buy from other artists.
Can't wait!
On Monday I will be back to filling orders and adding some more items in the Home Decor section, so check back for those.
Have a great day-Marnie


Friday, April 11, 2008

Design Milk

Hello everyone! Just wanted to give a nice thank you to Jaime over at Design milk for posting some of my pieces. Jaime has a great eye for modern design and also finds the most amazing products out there. Go check it out. -Marnie

Tuesday, April 8, 2008

New Items Coming!



If you have been trying to surf my site and enlarge any of my images and have had no luck, my site is under construction. New items are being added with a few other upgrades as well. Hopefully everything will be back to normal soon.
So above is one of my new pieces. It will be placed in the Home Decor section, and I don't think it will last very long. It comes with a Dark Ebony Frame made out of solid wood. The size of the painting is an 11x14" on canvas. With the frame it is 14x18. I love this painting that I have created and it will be very hard to let it go. Well, I'm off to start my busy day filled with painting, shipping, teach swimming for two hours tonight, rush home for an 8pm baseball game for my son, get my boys to bed by 10pm, and try to get myself to paint some more. ...maybe.-Marnie

Monday, April 7, 2008

Sick Dog & New Products


Again....haven't blogged in a couple of days but I am so busy. And my pour dog Hawk had to be taken to the vet today for a bad bug bite on his foot.Ouch! he is feeling better now that the Doc gave him a nice shot of something. Hawk is basically a bug, mouse, rat, or anything that crawls catcher. He loves torturing bugs with his paw and that's how it happened. Love you Hawk, but I guess it's time to hire a real bug exterminator since you are out on sick leave.


Ok ....Coming up with more artwork, while filling orders at the same time has been very difficult lately. But before my show last week, I manged to get some time in. I introduced these two new pieces.

The one above is called "House of Owls". It will be available in certain sizes and only in these colors. i used recycled watercolor paper for the leaves on the tree. So cute, and did well for it's first show I might say.

My second piece is titled "The Bear Family". Very fun and cute. Again I used watercolor paper which gives great texture. Both of these paintings are on a cream background. I really wanted a natural woodsy feel to the painting. Another great addition to the show as well. Look for these on the site within a week, and more in the series to come. Back to painting-Marnie


Wednesday, April 2, 2008

Come In..Alpha Tree...Come In....Copy That!





Gosh.... I have not been very good at keeping up with this blog lately. Honestly, though it is one of the last things on my list of duties in my daily routine. I just came off a very successful Dallas market and picked up some great new accounts.
So within the last week my days have been filled with invoicing, painting, painting, and painting. Oh..and did I mention I've been painting.
I am also going to be featured in the August issue of Southern Living Magazine, I am so excited for that. They are doing a spread on a contemporary nursery and they chose four of my pieces to feature. When the time gets closer I will let you know which ones they picked.

Well.. back to painting my second run of Alpha Trees that are being shipped at the end of the week.
Copy that! Thanks for reading- Marnie