Happy New Year Everyone!

First Original Painting for 2011-" I Love My Moose "

Hello everyone! Happy New Year! It's been a while since I've been on the blog but it's great to be back. We had a busy holiday and was surprised with family house guests....it was great. I love my family and was so happy to see them this holiday season.
I'm also very excited for 2011! It's busy for me as I'm still working at the swim school and preparing for two shows for my wholesale accounts. And my ETSY..of course. I have lots of new little paintings that I'll be loading daily and I'm very excited to introduce many more large paintings of Hawk and his friends. Hawk is going to start traveling! That's right! His first stop is New York...I can't wait to show you what I've been working on. I'll also be delivering new art to some galleries in which those will be posted for anyone to purchase as well.

My website www.jaustinryan.com is also being updated. It actually almost got hacked into and google stopped...thanks Google! So now we are updating the entire website! Hooray!

Please stay tuned and I'm off to get ready for the Rose Bowl today...TCU baby..GO FROGS!

Marnie V.

My Halloween

Hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween...I did.
Even Garrett came over to say hello or scare me. He's the little boy on my website.
He cracks me up! Love you G!

Of course, my kids thought it would be fun scaring little boys and girls this year.

My son Austin carved this pumpkin....he did a great job!

And, this is where I sat all night passing out candy and drinking coffee to stay awake
after our long day of football games.
Thanks for looking!
Marnie V.

Holiday Goodness!

Hello everyone! This week I'll be adding a lot of cool and pretty items to my Etsy shop.
One in which are these adorable little mini art ornaments. They are simply perfect all year for art to adorn your wall. Then during holiday time, place them on your tree.
So keep a look out:) Have a great day! Marnie V.

New Hawk Series

I hope everyone is having a great week and I have to say that today in Texas, the weather is gorgeous! I have been waiting for days like this to come and it's finally here. I am also going to wish everyone an early Happy Valentines Day. Tomorrow I'll be going to Dallas, to the showroom to be exact, and Saturday I promised my husband that I wouldn't work. I also wanted to start showing everyone little spaces in my home that pretty much reflect us, to be point blank. So above is out fireplace that is in our family room. As you can see it's decorated for Valentines, but not with your typical red and pink hearts, mine are multicolored. I have three boys, even though they do love pink. This felt garland was made by me last year and it used to hang in my showroom in Dallas, but I opted to bring it home and I'm glad I did. My boys told me last night how good they thought it looked on out fireplace and after taking this picture, I have to agree.

So on to some news. I am launching today on my ETSY a new series of little wood paintings called " Hello my name is....". They are little pieces of eco friendly wood hung with hemp string and are painted with a character on each. On the back of each one it will say " Hello...my name is Hawk"(example). They are really cute and each one has special painted patterning, I call it. Their will only be fifteen in the series and I will not be duplicating them. I will introduce two into the shop today and every day more will be added. I also decided to do free shipping on these items since this is a special series...they are really cute. So again have a wonderful Valentines Day with the ones you love. Marnie V.

Our Thanksgiving

We had a great Thanksgiving! Austin said it was his best ever, and I'd have to agree. I hosted this year for the first time and it really was not that bad. I started preparing the day before so that I wasn't a crazy lady the day of. I have always been the type to use items around my home for decorating and even outside since I love to garden. The boys and I collected, trim branches, and picked flowers out side for our decor, it was fun. Of course, a little rock throwing came into play, BOYS! So here are some photos.
















We made some desserts in the morning. Chocolate covered Oreo's with sprinkles, the boys made. And I made a chocolate cake with a turkey on top. My boys aren't big fans of pumpkin pie, so I made this for them. It was the hit of the night actually. I didn't take photos of any other food because by the time it came out of the oven it was in our bellies.:>)
Like I said, we pulled greens from the yard to add in the decorating.I even added cranberries to the vases with little orange flowers from my yard, they looked so pretty. Austin and Ryan helped out with this.
Well, I hope all of you had a wonderful Thanksgiving as we did. And no, my kids are not drinking wine, it's sparkling apple cider. Don't think the thought didn't cross my mind, especially with the rock fight in the yard. It's back to reality today, work! Have a great day. Marnie

Happy Memorial Day!

We have had a great weekend so far. Cleaning, baseball, and swimming of course. Speaking of, I'm not sure if I even have to teach today. I guess I'll call before I put my two hours in. And of course i am telling myself a list of accomplishments that i will absolutely get done. Yeah right...

Like the Rocket Dog that is not finished yet and needs to be since I have a show this next week.
I need to print off more price lists. I am meeting with someone this week about a new product, it's still a secret, not telling yet what it is. Do you see how now my list has taken over my week. And also still fill orders.
But one thing for sure today, I will be a mom. One that will swim with her kids, play basketball in the pool, have a yummy cookout, and give out advice on how their old enough to work out their own arguments. So have a wonderful Memorial Day...I'm off to start mine. Marnie

Happy Mother's Day

I received these flowers yesterday by mail from the boys in my life. They are so sweet and such a surprise. Happy Mother's Day to all and have a wonderful day. -M