Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Such gorgeous weather, about 70 degrees with no wind. Went to Almaden Valley, found this old barn to paint. I did one at the same location in May this year. and did another one during the summer in 2017. Slowly I have made some progress in my work. I like this spot, felt very peaceful. Next time I will try to add in figures, and will paint loosely. Just ordered more watercolor papers, the price increased again... (November 22 2021)

It was not a hot day with a light breeze. Went to Almaden Valley again. Last time I was lost and ended up finding a new place to paint. Arrived at the location and there was no parking left. Waited for a while, parked out next to the narrow road. I could never dress up to be an artist and do my work, especially outdoors. Actually, better to be a camel when doing Plein Air. There was no restroom at this location, had to be prepared. Then I started dragging my painting stuff to where I wanted to paint. Maybe about 15 minute walk when hiking, but I had to carry my tripod and Plein Air umbrella. Inside my rolling bag, was a Strada easel, which it was heavy by itself already; my color palette, a handful of brushes and two spray bottles inside the easel. Plus two bottles of water, one for painting, one for myself. a folding board for painting with several Fabriano Artistico 140lb cold press watercolor paper. a pencil bag which is full of pencils, some paint tubes, and small stuff f

Planned to go to Golden Gate Park to paint but it didn't happened. Drove in a different direction, tried to find an old place to Plein Air a couple of times, but I missed the road and had to u-turn back, I instantly stopped and painted this red barn. I was so glad that I found it by mistake, a very quiet road in this peaceful countryside, only the neighbors' dog barked several times at me. Saw a beautiful cow was having nap on the way back, but caught the road work traffic on the way home.

Didn't plan to paint outdoors, but the weather was so nice I thought that I could save some work for raining days at home. Rushed out the door, my car GPS refused to accept the address. And I still missed the entrance of the free way by listening to Google maps. It was a little bit late, actually it was good timing, as the sun just started shining on the roof of this historic St. Anthony Church on Bertram Rd. Learned so many lessons from my previous mistakes. focused on drawing patiently. Felt hot in the sun, watercolor paper and paint dried very fast, followed the flow to work. Happy I was out to paint, met a couple of watercolor artists as well.

This property, Carson House, located at Almaden historic district, San Jose, California. It has been placed on the National register of Historic Places by the United States Department of the Interior. The one I painted was based on the sketches I did on Christmas day 2017. After the painting was done, I did some research to view the old photos, and realized that there was no cactus in front of the house. I wonder how old those cactus are. The red color fruits on the cactus are very beautiful too. It made me really want to visit this museum as well, but it was closed. Next time I will make it. Original watercolor of this painting is available for a collector.  Please view a better image @ https://fineartamerica.com/featured/carson-house-california-landscape-6-xueling-zou.html?viewall=true Carson House 1854  One of three complete adobe house in New Almaden made of creek gravel and adobe mud. From the plaque on the wall:  In 1855 a plan of the settlement of the Hacienda, incl