Large Plain m&m's Painting by Darren Maurer

16" x 20"

I finished another one of the larger paintings. One great thing about painting miniature pieces of art is that they serve as studies for larger paintings. I can finish a miniature piece and not have nearly as much time invested and see people's reaction to the small paintings. I can tell which paintings make stronger immpressions on viewers. The first piece I painted larger back in December 2007 was the Monopoly piece. Monopoly has been a strong subject matter and another subject that has always received rave reviews has been my m&m's paintings. I have been working on this painting for awhile and finished it tonight. Painting Sold.

Bag of Apples Daily Painting A Day by Darren Maurer

6" x 8"

My two- hundredth painting completed. I am really happy that I am very satisfied with number 200. I went to the grocery store yesterday and resupplied my daughter with some apples for her lunch everyday this week. When I got home I was taking the groceries out of the bags and I set this bag of apples down on the counter top. I instantly saw a painting there. It was a bit challenging but it is always better to paint something challenging when given the opportunity to do so. I like the colors of the background with the red apples. The background has a greenish tone to it which makes the apples more vivid. As I was working on this piece I felt like the colors gave it an old world feel. Those guys didn't have plastic bags back then or I'm sure one of them would have painted a bag of apples too. As I mentioned earlier....this is painting 200 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold

Apple and Lunch Sack - Daily Painting - by Darren Maurer

6" x 8"

I have used brown paper lunch bags as subjects in the past. I like painting the brown kraft paper. It has shades of tan, pink, orange, brown, and blues and I kept my brushwork quite painterly on the paper bag. I tried a different technique this time when I painted the apple. I usually paint from dark to light finishing with the highlights. This time I started with my brightest lights and finished with my darks. I have to admit I did hit the highlight with one real quick brush stroke to finish the painting. This is painting 199 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.

Birthday Cupcake - Daily Painting by Darren Maurer

6" x 8"

I haven't painted cake for awhile. Everyone loves cupcakes. I have nothing clever to say about cupcakes. The actual cake part of this is lemon. You can see the yellow cake through the cupcake paper. Email any other questions about cupcakes and I'll try to answer them. This is painting 198 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.

Peanut Butter & Jelly #2- Daily Painting- by Darren Maurer

6" x 6"

I can always tell when a painting is working or not working. I get a feeling when I paint and I can just tell. I knew from the very first brush stroke on this painting that it was going work for me. I like the subject matter and the composition and that always helps make painting better. I couldn't eat the PB&J when I finished because the bread had dried into a crouton. The thing I learned most from painting this one is that bread dries out really, really fast. This is painting 197 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold

Valentine's Day Hershey's Kisses Daily Painting by Darren Maurer

6" x 6"

I like painting reflective surfaces. Hershey's Kisses provide a reflective surface, also known as foil, all krinkled up around a big chocolate chip shaped thing. I added the red one for someone's Valentine. I also had them setting on a slick table when I was working on them. Painting the reflections on the table were like working in abstract. The owner of this painting could display it upside down if they prefer abstract work to realism. I'm kidding. Painting Sold.

Heart Shaped Box of Chocolate Daily Painting by Darren Maurer

6" x 6"

I wanted to paint a box of chocolates before Valentine's Day last year but I didn't manage to start on it in time. I barely made it this year but here it is. This proved to be a more complex subject matter than some of my other miniature paintings. I do like how the image is cropped down but you can still obviously see that the box is shaped like a heart. This painting number 196 in Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.