Plain m&m's - Daily Painting - by Darren Maurer

6"x8"

Someone contacted me a few weeks ago wondering if I was going to finish another m&m's painting sometime. I didn't know at the time when that might because I don't plan these paintings out too far in advance. I get my ideas as I see them and never know what tomorrow will bring for an idea. I did quote them my prices for commission paintings, which by the way, are very reasonable. Although I didn't hear anything back from the potential client I did happen to paint plain m&m's again recently. Here is the newest painting. These are fun to work on and I enjoyed painting this subject again and like the composition. My sense of composition is something I don't really stress out about or even put a lot of conscience thought into. Several people have commented over the past two years of this blog page that they like how I compose my work. I even read a comment left recently left by someone unknown to me on another blog page that my compositions were nothing short of pure genius. My family read it also when I found it and all busted out in hysterics laughing. To them I am just "Dad and Husband". The trash taker outer, taxi service, the guy with the bottomless wallet......you get the idea. Although I appreciate the compliment "pure genius" might be stretching it a bit about a guy that really puts zero conscience effort into his compositions. Should I be admitting this? This is painting 189 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.

Large Pepperroni Pizza- Daily Painting- by Darren Maurer

6"x8"

I think I captured the greasy texture of pepperoni pizza with this one. I'm liking it. I always say if you scrub the paint around long enough it should eventually look like something and with this one I can almost taste the pepperoni on the pizza. This is painting 188 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold

Twin Bing Candy Bar - Daily Painting - by Darren Maurer

8"x8"

Our local Sioux City Art Center is planning a revolving show of 8"x8" original paintings. They are contacting well known area artists to supply a continuous group of 8"x8" paintings for the show and also offer them for sale. If an artist sells a painting they would like to have another painting from that artist to instantly replace the sold piece. I am planning on painting several pieces that have a local area connection. For example, this piece has a Sioux City connection to it. Palmer Candy Company is a very old Sioux City, Iowa family owned business. It began in Sioux City in 1878 and has been going strong every since. The company's signature candy bar is called the Twin Bing. (Click Here for Palmer Candy History) I decided to use a Twin Bing for a subject in this painting since they are all made by hand right here in town. The wrapper is a simple red and white design and still looks the same as it has for as long as I can remember. Both of my daughters have been begging to eat this candy bar but not until I was finished painting it. This is painting 187 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold

I've Been Tagged!!!!

My good friend Peter Yesis tagged me over a week ago and I have blown it off until now. He tagged me because he could think of nobody that would hate it more than me. He was right about that part. I am going to play fair and go along with it though even though I'm very late in responding which is my usual procedure for most things I do in life. If I understand this correctly I list five things about me and then tag five other people. OK.

1. I really love to fish. I used to keep track of my trips in a log book. One year before we had any kids I went fishing over 80 times in a four month period.......and stayed married. I don't fish as much as that today.

2. I have never watched or seen any parts of any Star Wars movie.

3. When I'm not painting during the spring, summer and fall I'm hunting for dinosaur bone fossils. I have collected a very nice and extensive collection over the years. My team of "Dinosaur Hunters" discovered a new species of dinosaur in 2003. Our dinosaur is pictured on the cover of National Geographic this month. If I wasn't a painter, I would want to be a paleontologist.

4. I have either listened on a radio, watched on television, or been in person to every single Nebraska Cornhusker football game since 1972. Pretty sick huh???

5. I don't know how to type (also known as keyboarding) I don't want to learn either. But I'm extremely fast with two fingers.

I won't be tagging five other people. One other interesting fact is I don't go with the crowd usually. Bye bye.

Last Slice of Bread - Daily Painting by Darren Maurer

5"x7"

Here is the last slice of bread. See it sit inside the bread box for days without getting any attention. Does anyone out there ever take the last slice of bread and eat it? I can honestly say in fourty-three years I don't think I have. What good is it with the crust on five sides? The heel? Who wants to eat anything called the heel? It did catch my attention though for a painting. I liked the way it looked through the empty clear plastic bag. The bag was reflecting some light from a window causing some of the highlights to have touches of blue in them. This one of those paintings that when viewed up close has a very abstract quality about it. As you move back away from the painting the abstract qualities transform into an almost photgraphic realistic rendering of a piece of bread inside a plastic bag. This is painting 186 in Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.

Large Monopoly Passing Go by Darren Maurer

16"x20"

I have been planning on working in some larger paintings of some of my more popular miniature subjects. I have been working on this piece on and off for the past few weeks. Monopoly has always been one of my very favorite games. This is the first of a few different larger paintings. If these work out well I am planning on working even larger with some of them. I have painted miniatures of all four of the Monopoly board corners and even finished one piece of the center of the board. All of the paintings received lots of attention and positive comments. I've also included a photo of the painting on the easel in my studio to get an idea of the scale. This is painting 185 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.

Gumball Machine #2 Daily Painting by Darren Maurer

8"x10"

I posted a painting of an old gumball machine last year on November 26, 2006. Click HERE to see that painting. I will paint the same same subject more than once but I never just simply duplicate a previous painting. That wouldn't be fair to people that purchased an original piece previously. This a different old time gumball machine and I think this painting has a lot of impact on the viewer. It is more like a portrait of a gumball machine. This is painting 184 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.

Santa Hat- Daily Painting A Day- by Darren Maurer

8"x8"

I spotted this Santa hat while out shopping for Christmas decorations last week. I wondered if it could make an interesting painting for my Miniature Masterpieces page. I set the hat in my studio and played with the lighting for awhile and I really like how it worked out. The light is from a very low angle on the hat. I tried folding the hat in a way that would make the lighting more interesting too. When I saw this I knew I had a painting here. This was greay fun to paint and get the color and texture just right. The fur texture was the last step of the painting and it really made the hat have a finished look to it. This is painting 183 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.

Salt & Pepper #3 - Painting A Day - by Darren Maurer

6"x8"

Another set of salt and pepper shakers??? Has Maurer lost his mind??? What is it about salt and pepper shakers that makes him think they are so cool to paint???? Maybe it is the clear slick glass surface with the shiney chrome plated tops reflecting their surroundings? Maybe it is the simple fact that the black and white contents of both containers are just that,.....simple? It is probably a combination of all of the above. He really likes the orange colored background on this piece. He wouldn't want this to get out or be taken as bragging, but he said, "This piece in person is stunning and every once in awhile I paint something and when I'm finished I look at it and can't believe I painted it. This is one of those." This is also painting 182 in his Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.

Candy Canes Daily Painting A Day by Darren Maurer

5"x7"

I spotted these little candy canes at the grocery store last week and thought they would make a great painting. They are one of my all time favorite Christmas candies. Candy canes got their start back in the late 1600s when a German choirmaster handed out sugar sticks to his youngest singers to help keep them quiet during the long Living Creche ceremony. In honor of the occasion he had the sticks bent into the shape of a shepard's crook and those were the first candy canes. They have came a long way over last 400 years and are now have red and white stripes and are flavored with peppermint. They also didn't have cool little cellophane wrappers around them back then that are fun to paint. This is painting 181 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold

Candy Corn Candy Dish- Daily Painting- by Darren Maurer

5"x7"

We spent Thanksgiving in Grand Island, Nebraska with my sister's family this year. On Friday we spent some time with my wife's family and on one of the visits to her 98 year old and still going strong grandmother's house I spotted this candy dish. I liked the way the orange and yellow candies looked through the green tinted glass. The most difficult part of this painting was explaining to grandma why I was taking photos of her candy dish. She finally figured out what I was up to and then everything worked okay out after that. This is painting 180 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.

Also check out a group of daily painters at http://www.dailypaintworks.com/ The group includes CAROL MARINE, JUSTIN CLAYTON, KARIN JURICK, BELINDA DEL PESCO, SARAH WIMPERIS, QIANG HUANG, MICHAEL NAPLES, AARON LIFFERTH, PETER YESIS, J MATT MILLER, TOM BROWN and MYSELF. Look for our monthly advertisment in every issue of American Art Collector magazine.