A Commissioned piece

I have mentioned a friend of mine before, the artist Kathleen Coy. She is an amazing and talented artist. She is so good at animals and from what I've seen...she can paint anything. I already had her paint Hawk and for Father's Day she painted my other little dog Cali. She is my husband's baby girl...literally. And he was so happy, surprised, and over joyed when he opened to find this piece that Kathleen had created. Great job Kathleen..I'm already thinking of what I'll have you create for me next.

Don't mean to post and run, but I just found out that my show this week actually starts Wednesday and not Thursday....I'm screaming . I guess I won't be lounging by the pool today like yesterday. Marnie V.

A Recent Custom that was COOL!

I recently was commissioned by some clients from Dallas to create some art for their kids playroom. I actually did about four pieces for them, but stupidly forgot to take pictures of everything. But I luckily did take a photo of the biggest. The painting above was 4 feet x 4 feet (HUGE)...seriously it was big. They basically loved my Raining Mister Elephant painting but wanted more characters and really wanted the African amazon feel with trees and such.

I added monkeys and a funky orange giraffe.

And a deep rich blue striped zebra for fun.

Even the water I gave a wallpaper feel to it..they loved it. I've just emailed the Jennifer the client to see if she could take photos of the room and send it to me...it is the cutest little space with even a fireplace in it, and this painting is hanging above the fireplace. It looks amazing!

This week I'm busy painting orders and I'll be finally loading more into my Etsy shop. My boys are in sports camp all week so at least I'm getting a little piece and quiet for half the day.
Hope yours is peaceful too. Marnie V.

Happy Customers!

Remember a week or so back when I had donated a painting to charity similar to this one. Well, I had a customer see it who completely fell in love with it, but it was already donated and already purchased by the lucky bidder. So then I offered to create one that was similar but I added another planet to make it completely her own. And the result is the one above. It turned out amazing, and Denise my new customer loved it. And her son, who is ever so cute and pictured below, seems to love it as well.
Thanks again Denise for sending in this great picture..I love this little guys teeth...soo cute.

Please send me your pictures if you've purchased some art, I would love to add it in my Happy Customers section.
Have a great summer day-Marnie V.

A little LA Show starts Tomorrow

Thea Showroom
Los Angeles, Ca.
June 12-16th
Showroom Rep/Owner* Brandi Bartels
contact* brandi@theashowroom.com

I have a little show in LA that starts tomorrow at Thea Showroom. This is for all you modern baby stores out there that need some cool unique art in your stores for that cool unique customer of yours. And, for any Cali residents who don't own a store and would love to see what's in the showroom, contact Brandi for an appointment. Most of the art there is from my main site.

Have a great day-Marnie V.

My New Space

Just like everyone else in this crazy economy, I also did a little cutting back this year with things concerning my business. In Dallas, I cut my showroom space in half to save on half the rent and it was honestly for the better. I think because now when people walk up the art is right there in front of them, where as before they had to come in and look to the sides. so, I'm actually getting more exposure...which I love.

My new name banners are so sweet and the perfect addition to a child's room.

Even Hawk is being sold in my stores...he is getting very popular. I also have some other characters in the works as well and I'm about to get them tested which I'll talk about later this week...crazy law. Well, have a wonderful day- Marnie V.

Boys of Summer

Austin- 9yrs.

Ryan- 11 yrs.

Jacob- 13 yrs.

These are some photos that were taken recently by my friend Jason Munford over at Munfy.com
These are the boys of summer. There days will be filled with wrestling and football training. Texting girls...which drives me crazy. Numerous trips to the neighborhood water park. Swimming all day in our own pool which will result in a few swimmers ear infections. Movies in the park. Our big trip to Washington DC, which I haven't mentioned yet. Required reading everyday to get ready for the next school year. And let's not forget how much work I won't be getting done on time because of these three. Gotta love summer! Marnie V.

New Updates, a Show, and a Feature!

There is so much going on in my life and this biz that I really don't know where to start. My website J.AUSTINRyan is getting updated with new content, color changes, new images, and more features. These will all hopefully be done soon. My customers who have been ordering, well, let's just say I've been getting phone calls to place orders, since my site has been down.
I also had a photo shoot with the ever funny Garrett who is pictured above, he'll be popping up on my site as well.
More and more stores are adding my art which is honestly amazing and scary as well, my biz is growing and I basically just sat my kiddos down to tell them they are the new maids of the house this summer. Yea...those were the words that I told them when they came home from school today, which was there last by the way.
Other news, I have a Dallas show that starts tomorrow and I can honestly say " I am ready for it!".... gosh that felt good. It's a four day show and hope to pick up some new accounts.

Dallas Show
World Trade Center Building Dallas, TX
8th floor, Kids World Studio, Showroom #8701-45
June 4th-8th

I was also featured today on Penguin and Fish. Allyssa is the artist and illustrator behind these most amazing products and images. you seriously need to go check out her stuff. She has a ETSY site. And she has her own main site like me which features all of her talents. Thank you so much Allyssa..I love her blog, and I'll be visiting it every day from now on.





So I'm signing off and will hopefully be back soon, and I'll wish myself luck on this show.
Have a great weekend....Marnie V.