"Taking Out"

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It is the last day of the month today. This month, I didn’t finish my quota for my on-line galleries. Officially, I am not a daily painter any more. I told myself last night: Qiang, you must paint something right now. So I did. Was it good? I don’t know, but I learned something: Never ever use a clay board for oil painting. I am short in supplies now. Out of desperation, I found some panels I bought who know when. I did this 6”x6” with it. Oh! My goodness, this board was unbelievably absorptive. I literally poured a puddle of linseed oil on the surface, and it disappeared in seconds. Every brush I putted on turned into a dry mark, no matter how juicy my paint was. All my darks lost the darkness very quickly. I lost completely the smoothness of oil painting. Usually my paintings are dry to touch in several days. For this one, it is dry to touch in minutes. I used retouch varnish trying to bring the fresh look back, but it last only a couple of minutes. Oh boy. It was a real struggle….. My life is still in a mess right now, but I remind myself again: Just do it and Never give up.

I am going to Alabama tomorrow. I will let you know how the workshop goes later.

"Demo at Jacksonville 3" --- Sold

I did three demos at this workshop and this was the last one. I was trying to show what I have learned from Richard Schmid. I left the background rather transparent and paid a lot of attention to the edges. I was rushed a little due to my time constrains. I think this one has a lot of potential.

I am back to Austin now, and had a gear shifting to my engineering work. I may not paint much for a while because I am behind in so many things. Unfortunately, painting will be the first to be sacrificed. My lack of skills of managing business is killing my art at this moment, but I will straighten up everything. My life is a little chaotic, but it will be back to normal soon.

"Demo at Jacksonville 2" --- Sold

This is my second demo at the workshop. I have never done a watermelon before, and sunflower is relatively new to me as well. But they all just shapes and colors to me. The painting has turned out all right. It looks that the watermelon and the sunflower go together nicely.

"Demo at Jacksonville 1" --- Sold

I have just completed my three-day workshop at Jacksonville, FL. I really appreciate Eileen Corse for putting this workshop together. The workshop was held at the fabulous Corse gallery. I was so excited to meet many new artist friends and delighted to see some of my old friends too. This is my first demo painting. I had so much fun doing it.

"Quiet Moment" --- Sold

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I am not creative today. This one is my typical composition. In my life, having time and energy to paint is really a luxury. Recently, I felt more and more forces trying to push me away from my art. I paint much less now, and the progress is not in sync with my expectation. I am not in crisis, but I have reached a low point in this relatively new career of mine. I remind myself: Just do it and never give up.

"Green Energy" --- Sold

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These several days I didn’t paint. I was carried away doing a DIY green energy project. Like most people, I am really for going green, but I have not taken any real action. I still turn on my AC to beat the hot Texas summer, and water my lawn with a sprinkler system. But one incident has forced me to go green.

You probably know I have a small property in the Texas hill country (I posted a painting of a propane tank this spring). I bought it early this year, but I hardly go there. I did have the electricity and water turned on, but I have not used any. I thought it should not cost me much, however, I was deadly wrong. Besides more than $100 turning-on fee, the fee for just keeping the power and water available was $78 per month. After throwing money away for five months, I finally picked up the phone calling the water company to stop the “service”. The lady on the other end nicely talked to me: If I stopped the water now, I couldn’t turn it on again within six months, otherwise I will be charged availability fees for all the months in between…. OK. THANKS. After being mad for a short while, I determined: I WILL DO IT MYSELF. So I started my green energy projects.

My first project was a solar power system. I went on eBay bought 36 solar cells ($60) and made my first solar panel. I bought two golf cart batteries at Costco. I got the charge controller and power inverter on-line. After two weeks fun work, I got the system working yesterday. Last night we had a party. Under the solar powered lights, I played a CD of Beethoven with a solar powered boom box. It was so great.
Sorry about the sidetracking from art, but it was really fun. Next I will do rain water harvesting, and a solar water heater.