"Anderson Mill" --- Traded with an Artist

Anderson Mill is an historical marker not far from where I live. When Calvin Liang was here. He painted at this location twice. It is nice and rustic place. I did this plein air painting a while ago when I have a lot of computer problems. After Thanksgiving, I have been super busy with my engineering job, and haven't got a chance to paint yet. So I post this one for you.

"Calvin is showing his painting secret"

This is a demo painting did by master artist Calvin Liang.
This and next week, the internationally well known artist Calvin Liang is teaching two 5-days workshops in Austin. He is sharing his magic approaches to plein air painting. I am amazed by his rich organic colors and energetic brush work. We all appreciate this great opportunity to learn from the master. If you admire Calvin's art like I do, I have a good news for you. Due to the last minute cancelation, we still have a couple of openings for his second workshop starting on this Sunday Oct. 31. If you are interested in getting his painting secret, please shoot me an email: qhart002@yahoo.com. I will try my best to get you in.

"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.