Peppermint Candies #3 - Daily Painting by Darren Maurer

4" x 6"

My good friends Mick McGinty and Peter Yesis and I have had many discussions over the years about color and what color really means when painting. I have learned much about color from them and hopefully I have enlightened them both a few times on the subject as well. Trusting your eye and seeing the correct color is an important part of learning to paint realistically. When I sat down to paint this little still life of these peppermint candies they were on a grey background. In my set up the candies themselves looked warm grey but not quite as dark as the surface they were resting on. I had to make myself paint the candies grey when my brain knew they were really white. I kept going and painted what I saw. When the painting was about 75% finished the candies started to come forward and also began to fool my eye into thinking I was seeing white candies. I'm used to doing this because I paint a lot and have learned to trust what I see. I am thinking about color and color relationships between objects in my paintings throughout the entire process. A good lesson for a beginning painter is to not let your brain have preconceived notions about what color certain objects are. Really look close and decide what color you are seeing and go with it. This is painting 235 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.

Rubber Ducky #3 - Daily Painting by Darren Maurer

6" x 8"

Once again I decided on a painting subject while doing a mundane task during my day. While I was washing my hands I noticed the bright chrome reflective drain plug in the bottom of a sink. Painting only the chrome ring and plug might be boring so I added a yellow rubber ducky beside the drain. The small little trace of soap bubbles makes it extra cool. After I finished the painting I'm not sure who the star of the show is......the ducky or the drain? It could probably go either way on this one but it still works as a composition somehow. This painting 234 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.

Cherry Tomatoes #2 - Daily Painting by Darren Maurer

5" x 7"

We started to get a few cherry tomatoes from our neighbor's garden last week. I'm the only member of our household that eats them and I always look forward to fresh tomatoes every year. I picked some ripe tomatoes last week and brought them in and washed them. When I set them down some of the water puddled up around them and I saw it as a future painting subject. Today I picked some more and set them up as a still life and painted them. I like the touch of interest the water adds to the composition. This is painting 233 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.

Hershey's Kiss - Daily Painting by Darren Maurer

5" x 7"

A Hershey's Kiss standing all alone. I decided to put the subject right in the center of the composition for an extra dramatic look. I also didn't want the word Kiss visable all as one complete word on the little piece of paper sticking out of the foil. Supposedly the little strip of paper sticking out of the foil is there in order to aid the person in unwrapping the chocolate within. I'm a nonconformist and therefore never use it myself. I just pull at the edge of the foil and that works for me. This is painting 232 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.

Reese's Wrapper - Daily Painting by Darren Maurer

6" x 8"

I have been having artistic block for awhile now. I don't know what happens but sometimes I get where I can't focus on anything for a painting subject. Everything seems like a dumb idea or just not what I want to paint. Then when I least expect it everything goes back to normal and I start to see paintings all around me again. Last night I had a Reese's peanut butter cup and this jumped out to me when I opened them up. I finished this tonight and new ideas are flowing through my head again. The problems of a painter, right? This is painting 231 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.

Raw Egg #5 - Daily Painting by Darren Maurer

6" x 8"

This is the last commission painting on my "To Do" list as of right now. I had a client see the raw egg painting a few weeks ago and he really liked it. I was hired to paint another piece similar to the other painting. I don't ever finish another painting the exact same as an earlier piece because that wouldn't be fair to the owner of the first original painting. In this case it is difficult to change the composition very much and still have the same look. I did crack a fresh egg and whatever way it runs is how the painting turns out. The little bubbles make the white of the egg just look that much more wet and juicey. I am liking painting these a lot on the dark backgrounds. I am going to do an entire series of raw egg paintings and see what happens with it. Now that I'm caught up on commissions for awhile I hope to explore some new ideas. This is painting 230 in my Painting A Day Series. This is a Sold Commission piece.

Crossword & Yellow Pencil #2 - by Darren Maurer

6" x 8"

I heard from so many crossword puzzle fans after completing the first crossword puzzle painting. Thanks for all the kind words and crossword stories. This is a commission painting for a client that saw the other painting and wanted one for themselves. I am really starting to like painting yellow pencils also. I tried keeping the crossword puzzle more loose and painterly to keep the painting from getting too technical feeling. I think sometimes when painting objects that have lots of straight edges and lines in them paintings can start to look very rendered and technical. It also makes the pencil come to the foreground of the painting. This is painting 229 in my Painting A Day Series. This is a Sold Commission piece.

Red Bicycle - Daily Painting by Darren Maurer

5" x 7"

I thought this bicycle had a few interesting compositions left in it as a subject. It is an older bicycle probably from the 1950's. I like how all the bicycles back then had a lot of character just like the all the cars. I wanted to crop in on the handle bar section of the bike. This is painting 228 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.