A Project You Won't Want To Miss!!!

Have you ever had that space in your home where a tiny piece of art would fit perfectly? Oh wait...I know you have that space in your home somewhere...we all do. It's that little spot you walk by many times wishing for the perfect piece of art to put in it's place. I can tell you that I have many of them actually. And, slowly I've been trying to fill them up with my own art and art from others artists. And I mean affordable great art. It doesn't have to be expensive, just something that catches your taste and style.

So a couple of weeks ago I was determined to tackle one of those spots in my family room. The room where we gather every night and when friends come over, everyone ends up there. It's almost done as far as decorating goes and I've lived in this house for six years now. Well a year ago I created the large abstract on the left, which fits the room and colors well. But the right of it has needed something ever since. My husband, who I constantly tell has no design bones in him, came up with the idea to add little paintings next to it. At first I said no in that I just didn't see it, and him of all people suggesting it. But the more I looked at it, he was right. It needed exactly that.






So I created little pieces of art, little landscapes actually, and they turned out great. You can see that on the right of them I have these wooden open shelves and that's what really made it look like something was missing. The little landscapes are painted on wood that are only 3 1/2"x 3 1/2" big...they are tiny and so cute. The space really came together after I placed them on the wall. And of course...I praised my husband for his good sense of design:).

So with all that..this post brings me to a special project I'm going to create. It's called the "Tiny Small Art Project". Starting this Friday I'll be creating little pieces of art, 5x7" size that will be sold for only $40 to US customers and $50 for International customers. Those prices do include the shipping. I will only be creating 50 tiny pieces of art in this project and each one will be different. The art will include landscapes, still life, and even some abstracts thrown in. I will post pictures of each piece for purchase on my blog and through facebook. It's a first come first serve basis...should be fun. And, if your looking for a perfect gift for someone this holiday season...this would be it. I'm even willing to take custom orders if you want something created and want it to be #5 in the series. I will have all the details Friday afternoon along with the first piece for sale.

How cool would it be to finally fill that spot and have an ORIGINAL piece of art that's in a series of 50...very. Well, I'll be back Friday afternoon...and tell your friends! -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.

Home Preview- My Son Austin's Room

Hello....just taking a break from a HUGE custom job I'm working and I need to step away from for a little bit. I've been showing little bits of my home every couple of weeks and today I'm bringing you my youngest son Austin's room. He is a serious trinket collector, football lover, book reader, and the sweetest 9 yr. old ever! The letter A above I made when we first moved in, the wood came from scraps that my house was built with. Oh and the foot on the wall...that's a football fathead...of course.

Austin's bed where he loves to read. These are some of his favorite books, but he switches them out from time to time. The little wooden box usually has some sort of special rock or whatever in it, and clay mask he made at school.
When he was a baby, he loved Curious George, and I wish I had pictures of his nursery. Just picture, modern furniture, butter cream walls, vintage prints of Curious George on the wall, toys in baskets on the most adorable scalloped bookcase, and vintage charm.
And of course, my first ever Rocket Dog that I painted adorns a wall in his room.

His trophies that he has earned sits along his shelf. The shelf shown actually wraps around his entire room. I built it myself...a lot of work but completely worth it. Austin loves putting things on display in his room. The picture on the left he colored and received second place in an art contest.
The famous walkie talkies( not sure is i spelled that right), that he is always having me carry one around the house...just in case he needs me to bring him something.
I also installed this garage bead board in silver then added hooks and string so Austin could play with all his little men. This is below the shelf and a really smart idea I had, he loves it.
And...what better thing to hang on your door than a "Are you fan enough" sticker. It's football related...I know..didn't get it at first either.
Well, I better get back to this order and hope you enjoyed the pics! Have a great day and will soon show more of my home...Marnie V.

Spring Pics!

A few posts back I had mentioned that I would start showing bits and pieces of my home. So today I decided to take some pictures of my front garden. It's been a work in progress over the last couple of years and it's finally looking the way I had planned. And with Spring finally arriving here in Texas... my flowers are really starting to bloom.

This vine growing over the arch is Jasmine and their is a mother bird and her nest tucked inside.

The window above is my studio. I get really sidetracked sometimes watching the birds, rabbits, and squirrels that enter my yard....and the pretty flowers of course.
I hope you enjoyed the Pics! I'm also updating my Etsy shop all this week full of bright spring little paintings. And if you want something before Easter it must be ordered by Wednesday April 8th so I can ship it priority to you.
Back to work- Marnie V.

My Pretty Calendar

Just thought I would post today on this fantastic deal of a beautiful calendar I bought from
Lotta JansDotter. It's made out of linen with a hand silk-screened calendar on it. It was only ten bucks and it comes in three different colors...you can go here to purchase one for yourself. I wouldn't wait too long though, these are just so pretty even in person. What caught my eye was the simplicity of it. I wouldn't dare show you my real calendar, it's full of deadlines, scratch marks, my son Austin's doodles, and spilt coffee. Anyways, just thought I would post on a great find. Tomorrow I'll be updating my shop with new art, which is explaining where I've been for the past week. I'm getting ready for a big show in LA Cali. , where 25 pieces of art need to be done within the next couple of weeks.YIKES! 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.

Decorating and a day of Rest!

Hello! I took a couple days off this week to revamp my creative spirit. I have been going and going these past couple of weeks with no down time in between. Painting, business duties, and my boys have definitely caught up with me in an overwhelming way. So, I decided Monday night that I would take a couple of days for myself.
It was perfect. I did a little house work, not much, my house is pretty tidy all the time. My husband and I are neat freaks. And, I finished decorating the rest of my house for Halloween. So what do you think?


My boys, of course think it's not scary enough, I told them little children won't want to come up to the door if it's too scary. I have a little graveyard, tons of spooky spiders, and a giant web on the front of my home.








I even purchased this little rat cage with three rats in it and bloody bones. It's so disgusting! But my boys love it.



With these two days off of simply checking emails only, i feel completely recharged and ready to jump in again. With the business of course. I have so much to do, especially with a show coming up next week. Well, have a great day and don't mean to run, the two days I took off made me a little behind in my schedule. 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

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

Back to Winter...

I was so excited that spring was here and my flowers were starting to bloom. And then Texas got hit with a snow storm. But, my kids were so thrilled to come home from school to see a winter wonderland. Actually, going through their minds were two words flashing, snowballs and fight.
Stepping out was picture perfect with all of the snow that was falling. We received up to five inches or more where we live . That is a lot for North Texas. So as I suspected my kids went straight to building bunkers and snowballs. Here is Ryan shoveling snow and trying to avoid snowballs at the same time.

I however grabbed some of the other kids in the neighborhood to help me build a snowman. This was my first snowman in Texas.

So Proud!



I also took a picture of my dog Hawk playing in the snow....can you see him?
Can't wait for spring to start AGAIN.

Spring Break

I am taking a break today to show everyone my first signs of spring here in Texas. This tree, that is in front of my studio, is my favorite. During the first part of spring, these little pink flowers start blooming. I can't for the life of me remember what kind of a tree it is, but within a few more weeks it will be the pink tree. I took a close-up shot of what these pretty little flowers look like.

Ok! Spring Break is over for me. A whole twenty minutes of taking pictures and blogging when It's really just an out to my orders that I am filling, which I am thankful to have.