Lifesavers - by Darren Maurer

10" x 10"

I have always liked painting shiny reflective surfaces. Painting a roll of Lifesavers candies with the foil wrapper is way fun. This is another painting that will go to the still life show at Katie Gingrass Gallery in Milwaukee, Wisconsin beginning in July. The painting will be for sale through the gallery at the same time.

Grape Jelly - by Darren Maurer

5" x 5"

I saw this little blob of grape jelly a few mornings ago and noticed how cool it looked. The hot white highlights, the reflected cool blue light on the shadowed side, the deep dark almost black areas within the heart of the blob, the areas where light is captured inside the jelly like the finest gem stone and screams out with the most intense shade of red-violet ever seen. Now that is one cool blob of grape jelly! When I started my blog page over five years ago the one thing I wanted to project to visitors was the process of "seeing.....and not just looking". I call it seeing the "extraordinary within the ordinary". Many people just look and don't really see all the great things around them. All people have their own ideas of what around them is great to see. My family and friends would be the first to attest in my uncanny ability to see the extraordinary within the ordinary.....or at least what is extraordinary to me. As they are all appalled thinking to themselves, "What?" they have witnessed me standing on chairs and table tops in restaurants taking photos of plates of food, silverware, ketchup bottles, salt and pepper shakers, shadows from a window blind raking across a place setting. They have watched me paint items from grocery store shelves, half eaten pieces of watermelon, cereal bowls left behind after breakfast, slobbery lollipops discarded by children, and the foamy rich little brown bubbles on the surface of a freshly poured cup of hot chocolate. They have seen completed commission pieces such as a weed emerging from a crack in a sidewalk, a favorite glass of wine backlit from a nearby window, tricycles, game boards, and slices of pizza. It seems the ideas for painting subjects from "seeing" the coolness in everyday ordinary items around me will never cease. Even a little blob of grape jelly dropped onto a countertop will do. You have to "see" it, or at any rate, I have to see it and then show it to you. I was reminded of all this yesterday when my youngest and now seventeen year old daughter walked into my studio and said, "Tell me you're not painting a little blob of jelly?" I was....and now I'm showing it to all of you. I want to thank the thousands and thousands of people that have followed this blog for the past five plus years. I'll keep painting. This painting will be available later this summer beginning in July.

Plain m&m's - by Darren Maurer

12" x 12"
I have been invited to show work at a gallery in Milwaukee this summer during July, August, and September. The show will feature still life work from a number of different artists. This painting is obviously m&m's which has been one of my favorite still life subjects since beginning this blog page in the spring of 2006. I can't believe it has been over five years ago that I began posting my work online as I finished each piece. There will be more to come. Lots of work to do!! This painting will be available for purchase beginning in July.

Pepperoni Pizza Slice - by Darren Maurer

5" x 7"

I posted the commission painting of "Cheese Pizza; The Last Slice" about three weeks ago and within 24 hours afterwards I received another commission order for a slice of pepperoni pizza. Here is the second pizza commission all finished. I have found for some strange reason I really enjoy painting pizza. Both slices of pizza used for reference are from a famous Sioux City pizza establishment named El Fredeo's Pizza. The pizza is legendary. I am also working on a group of paintings for an exhibit in Milwaukee, Wisconsin this summer. I will start posting them as they are finished. This is a commission painting and therefore SOLD.