The Bedtime Story - by Darren Maurer

5" x 7"

I'm skipping the Monopoly painting I was going to post today until tomorrow. I have been thinking about the 300 paintings on my blog page and have decided to start including paintings of people doing normal everyday tasks. I have some ideas in mind but plan on just letting the concepts come to me as I see them. This painting is something I have wanted to paint for sometime now. The father reading a book to his two children just before bedtime. I didn't try to capture every little detail in the scene but rather to capture the essense of the moment. The people are some friends that I made through our blog pages and I want them to have the painting so it won't be available. If you would like to check in on their family blog page you can click HERE. They always have something fun going on. This is painting 301 in my miniature painting series.

Monopoly Cannon Game Piece - by Darren Maurer

3" x 3"

The cannon will be the sixth Monopoly game piece released in the series. This painting also happens to be the 300th miniature painting I have done since starting this blog page in March of 2006. I was one of the very early painters to begin doing this. I would give much thanks to fellow painters and bloggers David Darrow, Mick McGinty, and Justin Clayton for helping me get started and answering lots of dumb questions. Blogging the paintings has made me a better painter and taught me to continually look for subject matter throughout the day. Sometimes I will see the idea and the composition jumps instantly into my head. Other times I see the idea in my head later in the day and I will go back and revisit the subject again the next day. Painting Sold.

Monopoly Wheelbarrow Game Piece - by Darren Maurer

3" x 3"

Here is the fifth painting released in the Monopoly game piece series. The wheelbarrow sitting on the Income Tax space??????? Hmmmmmmmm?????? I wonder what I mean by that? This is painting 299 in my miniature painting series. Painting Sold.

Red Apples - by Darren Maurer

6" x 6"
I tried something different for mixing paint for this painting. I pre-mixed all the colors that I saw within my apple subjects. I have also shown my palette with the eleven different tones I could see in the apples. I usually just mix color as I go and continually keep mixing paint throughout the entire process of creating a painting. I like how this worked and although it takes more time at the beginning I think it saved time over the long run. I don't know that this would work for me on every painting but it will work on smaller pieces that have an overall tone of similar color. I could also see doing this for portraits as well. I was going to post the next Monopoly game piece painting tonight but I wanted to show everyone these apples. It is also painted in a loose style and is very painterly. This is painting 298 in my miniature painting series. Painting Available $100. (Email Me for Purchase Details)

Monopoly Horse & Rider Game Piece - by Darren Maurer

3" x 3"

The horse and rider is one of my favorite Monopoly game pieces. It has some fine detail that I have never really noticed until I decided to use it as a painting subject. The polished chrome pieces are challenging and fun to capture in paint. This is painting 297 in my miniature painting series. Painting Sold.

Monopoly Thimble Game Piece - by Darren Maurer

3" x 3"

The third original oil painting released of a Monopoly game piece. The thimble is a classic. This is painting 296 in my miniature painting series. Painting Sold.

Monopoly Top Hat Game Piece - by Darren Maurer

3" x 3"

The second painting released in the Monopoly game piece series is the top hat. It only seems reasonable that the top hat is sitting on the most expensive property on the Monopoly board. I did pick all the properties at random and only after the fact did I consider the relationship between the top hat and the richest of the rich Boardwalk property. This is painting 295 in my miniature paintings series. Painting Sold.

Monopoly Shoe Game Piece - by Darren Maurer

3" x 3"

I have finished ten miniature paintings that all show a different game piece from the Parker Brother's game, Monopoly. The art will be posted one at a time over a three week period. A painting will be posted on my blog page the evening before it is posted for sale on an eBay auction. Auctions will begin at $49. Subscribers to my blog page will receive an email announcing the latest painting the evening before it is listed on eBay. Paintings will not be listed on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday evenings.

This idea appealed to me initially from the connection between players and the game pieces they had to use. For instance, I always prefer to use the wheelbarrow. My daughter Emily always likes to be the thimble. I'm sure someone out there must always use the shoe. All of the game pieces are shown on a random piece of Monopoly property. This is painting 294 in my miniature painting series. Painting Sold.