Peppermint Candy - by Darren Maurer

4" x 6"

I like painting clear plastic wrappers. Peppermint candies are also one of my favorite subjects for my miniature paintings. I think this is the fourth painting of them since I started my painting blog. What even makes them better is they come wrapped in clear plastic wrappers. This is painting 312 in my miniature painting series. Painting Sold.

Green Olives Red Pimentos - by Darren Maurer

4" x 6"

Contrast between the green olive and a red pimento is very nice. The view here shows two olives with the light source from the back side. This is painting 311 in my miniature painting series. Painting Sold.

Tootsie Pop - by Darren Maurer

4" x 4"

I like the close view of this cherry tootsie pop with the stick going off the top of the painting. If you really look at a tootsie pop closely you can see swirls of different tones with in the candy. My favorite area is where the stick enters the tootsie pop and you can see the white stick through the translucent candy. This is painting 310 in my miniature painting series. Painting Available $100 (Click Here for Purchase Information)

Peanut m&m's - by Darren Maurer

4" x 6"

I recently had an email request from an art collector for more candy paintings. I have painted several brands of candy in the past. People have mailed candy to me so I could use it as a subject in a painting for them. I have searched eBay for old candy packages so I could try and match the package design from a certain era. I went to the grocery store today and spotted these peanut m&m's at the check out counter and the collector's request popped back into my head. I bought them, took them home, set them up in my studio, got the lights just right, painted them, and then ate them all. This is painting 309 in my miniature painting series. Painting Sold.

Egg & Wooden Spoon - by Darren Maurer

6' x 6"

Painting the glass bowl and translucent egg white proved to be a challenge. Although egg whites don't have much color to them it was picking up some reflected color from the bright golden yellow yolk. Because everything was sitting on a black table cloth it made the egg white look like a translucent muted golden yellow color. Adding the spoon makes me wonder what the next ingredient will be? This is painting 308 in my miniature painting series. Painting Sold.

Red Volkswagon - by Darren Maurer

8" x 8"

I saw this red Volkswagon downtown last week. It was a bright day with lots of sunshine and the chrome headlight rings were gleaming. Just showing the front end is much more interesting to me rather than showing the entire car. I have painted commission pieces of classic cars in the past and have always liked the challenge of getting it right. If a landscape isn't quite like the artist actually saw it nobody notices. If a car isn't painted exactly true to the shape everyone can see it immediately. This is painting 307 in my miniature painting series. Painting Sold.

Monopoly Race Car Game Piece - by Darren Maurer

3" x 3"

Here is the tenth and final Monopoly game piece painting. It also happens to my personal favorite of all ten paintings. I don't really know why it is my favorite. It just had something about it I liked. I am particularly fond of the Free Parking space in the background. I would like to thank everyone for all the emails about this Monopoly painting series. I had emails from people all over the world telling me how great they thought the paintings were. Some offered advice, new ideas, questions about the game, and suggestions for more paintings. One fantastic side effect from starting a blog page is all the people I have met and became friends with even though we have never met face to face. It has been great. This is painting 306 in my miniature painting series. Painting Sold.

Monopoly Iron Game Piece - by Darren Maurer

3" x 3"

The iron game piece. I asked myself the question recently. Which game piece always insures victory on the Monopoly board? While researching my question, I found an interesting commentary that I will share with you.

Firstly, the dog zones in on the hat and just tears it apart. While that's going on, the shoe is kicking the dog in the butt long enough to distract the dog which allows the cannon to take the dog down Michael Vick style. I love rooting for the dog, but that cannon saw an easy target. With the shoe's efforts directed at the dog, the battleship shoots enough ammo into the shoe to make the shoe into swiss cheese. Shoe down. Just as the battleship rips apart the shoe, the thimble comes in and pounds the battleship into the ground. Look at how sturdy that thimble is! The battleship ship had no chance of piercing the thimble's armor with their tiny little guns.That leaves iron, wheelbarrow, cannon, race car, and thimble. This whole time the wheelbarrow is off working on its secret attack. The canon figures the car is its next target. The thimble is too tough and the iron just doesn't have any meat on it to aim at. The car is a big target and doesn't have much armor. It can be shifty and move around but what else can it do? It can't ram into anything. It will just get stalled. The thimble and cannon team up and the thimble manages to slow down the car a bit by getting the car to partially crash into the thimble. This allows the cannon to blast the car away. Just as the cannon finishes off the car, the wheelbarrow arrives and dumps a big payload of dirt into the cannon. The cannon reacts and attempts to fire back at the wheelbarrow only to self-implode. Cannon down.Now it's down to the iron, wheelbarrow and thimble. The iron melts down the wheelbarrow. Easy as that. It's a long, drawn-out battle, but the iron eventually melts down the thimble. The thimble managed to pound off the iron's handle, but the iron remains hot and victorious.

So there you have it. This is painting 305 in my miniature painting series. Painting Sold.

New York Yankees Game Ball - by Darren Maurer

6" x 6"

I stayed up late to watch game six in the World Series and I had this painting partially finished. The only thing I didn't know for sure is which team's logo I was going to paint on the ball. The Yankees won game six and won the series four games to the Phillies two so the Yankees logo is painted on the ball. I really like how the baseball is lit and the viewer is looking down on the baseball. I did list the painting on eBay tonight right after I finished it. I would be interested in any game ball commission work of your favorite team if anyone would like a painting of their favorite team's logo on a game ball. This is painting 304 in my miniature painting series. Painting Sold.

Monopoly Ship Game Piece - by Darren Maurer

3" x 3"

The battleship game piece is one of the more detailed of all the game pieces. The port holes and cannons front and rear all add to the detail. This painting makes the eighth Monopoly game piece painting I have posted over the last two weeks. I have only two more game piece paintings left. This painting is number 303 in my miniature painting series. Painting Sold.

Monopoly Dog Game Piece - by Darren Maurer

3" x 3"

Here is number seven in the series of Monopoly game piece paintings. The dog game piece looks like a schnauzer to me. Our family dog is a black and white schnauzer named "Oreo". She will bark and bother anyone that enters our home until they pay some attention to her. Then, and only then, she will leave you alone. I like the loose style of painting these game pieces. They still have the feel of chrome metallic object even though the paint is just a series of a few brush strokes. I got the idea to use the same style on the previous painting, "Bedtime Story" by finishing these Monopoly pieces. It is so cool to see the image appear by just applying a few brush strokes of the correct colors to your canvas to make the illusion real. This is painting 302 in my miniature painting series. Painting Sold.