Butter Dish - Daily Painting by Darren Maurer

8" x 8"
Glass is always fun to paint. I noticed this butter dish sometime ago and thought it would make an interesting subject to paint. I chose to use strong overhead light and it also had some reflected light from the left side that had an apricot color to it. The rich butter color is very nice in contrast to a jet black background. It is always difficult to capture the richness of an original oil painting in a photograph and this photo is no exception. People that see the original have all commented on the contrast of the butter and the background. Whomever purchases this painting will be very happy with the color. This is painting 247 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.

T-Rex Illustration by Darren Maurer

8" x 10"

Some of my subscribers know that one of my hobbies is paleontology. I and some friends go out in the field several times a year and hunt for dinosaur fossils. We have permission from several different landowners to hunt on their private land. Anyone thinking about getting into this hobby must make sure they are hunting fossils on land that allows the collection of fossils. This only includes private deeded land with permission from the landowner. We have discovered many fossils over the years and a member of our group actually discovered a new species of dinosaur back in 2003. The only thing more fun than hunting dinosaurs is talking about them. Countless times throughout the year we can be found speaking at schools, colleges, and museums. Not a day goes by where I'm not discussing, reading or thinking about new theories or dinosaur anatomy. It really is fun.

I have been wanting to break into the dinosaur illustrating field for awhile now. I have been searching the internet for dino illustrators and there just aren't many of them out there. It could be because there isn't a huge demand for dinosaur illustrators but I don't mind. I am already interested in the subject. I have been lucky enough to meet and really get to know some of biggest names in paleontology over the last five years. This is my first dino illustration. It is a T-Rex and I kept the background simple. I plan on working my way into some more complex compositions. Painting Available $150. (Email Me for Purchase Details)

Abba Zaba Candy Bar - Commission Painting by Darren Maurer

5" x 7"

A client contacted me a few weeks ago asking if I could paint a candy bar for her. The name of the candy bar in question was Abba Zaba. We don't have those here and I had notever before heard of it so I had her purchase one and send it to me. They are packaged in a yellow wrapper with black graphics. The candy bar is more of a mixture of taffy and peanut butter. I thought it would be interesting to take a bite and let the gooey strands of candy pull and stretch and then break where they may. It didn't stretch very far before it broke and I painted it exactly how it looked. This is painting 246 in my Painting A Day Series. Commission Painting - Sold

m&m's Pair - Commission Painting by Darren Maurer

5" x 7"

This is a commission painting that I have been working on for awhile. My client wanted a red and an orange m&m included in the painting. The m&m's were to appear as they were snuggleing with each other. Here are two very snugglishous m&m's. This is painting 245 in my Painting A Day series. Commission Painting - Sold

Fortune Cookie - Daily Painting by Darren Maurer

5" x 7"

I have wanted to paint one of these pre-wrapped fortune cookies for a long time now. One thing always stopped me. We would bring the food home with a few complimentary fortune cookies. We would eat the food and I would grab one fortune cookie and save it somewhere. I would later go to get the fortune cookie to paint it and it was always gone. I would ask, "What happened to my fortune cookie?" Some kid in the house always answered, "Oh...... I ate it. Did you want it?" So today I outsmarted everyone and went directly to my studio and painted the fortune cookie. I really like the package and the shadows. It is now available to eat for anyone that wants it. Now it will probably sit untouched for weeks. This is painting 244 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.

Nesbitt's Orange Soda - Daily Painting by Darren Maurer

12" x 6"

I know I have talked extensively about color on my blog before.......but here I go again!!! I can't believe how orange this soda actually is in color. I started mixing color on my palette and thought okay, this will be close. It wasn't close. I mixed it more orange. Still not even close. I went way overboard and mixed the brightest weirdest orange color anyone would ever apply to a canvas. It was almost there. I made it slightly more orange and I had it. I have to admit it was difficult to load a brush with it and make a brush stroke, but I did and it looks a lot like orange soda. This is painting 243 in my Painting A Day Series. This post also wins the award for using the word "orange" the most times. Painting Sold.

Tricycle #2 - Daily Painting by Darren Maurer

5" x 7"

Often times I will crop in and show only a portion of the whole object in my paintings. I think it makes a much more interesting composition in the case of this tricycle. The viewer instantly knows it is a tricycle. The well worn seat on this one tells a story of lots of rides through the years. This is painting 242 in my Painting A Day Series. Painting Sold.

Fleamarket Teddy Bears - Daily Painting by Darren Maurer

9" x 12"
Over Labor Day weekend we went to the Iowa Great Lakes with some friends and stayed at their parents lake home for a couple of days. We were away from all the hub bub and tourists which made it very quiet, laid back, and relaxing. One day a bunch of us went to a local fleamarket that is open on the weekends during the tourist season. We didn't purchase much but I did spot these teddy bears on one of the merchants tables. They were old and tattered and looked like they all belonged together. I love the fact that the sales tags were all tied on to each bear. The tags make my title of "Fleamarket Teddy Bears" make sense. This is painting 241 in my Painting A Day Series. I will list this painting Tuesday evening around 7pm on eBay unless someone purchases before then. It is priced a little higher than my normal price because it is a larger size than my normal 5x7s or 6x8s. $200. UPDATE: Painting Sold at 10:45am.