Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Gorgeous morning but caught in traffic. Arrived at the location almost 10:30am. Instantly love it, another very paintable and must come back location. There were a group young age kids learning music next to where I was painting. Was fun to hear their singing, made painting go through with joy. Ended up shopping at the Stanford Shopping Center. Came home with traffic all the way too... That was why I don't like going out during rush hour.

  Excited to experience the first rain in our location, it started at least one month earlier than usual. Even raining when I drove through the mountains all the way to Santa Cruz. Local people still brought their dogs for walks in the rain. During the time I was trying to figure out where to paint rain stopped. The lighthouse again of course, because I didn't like the one painted last September. Struggling with the rocks for a long time, sun came out, the harbor looked so beautiful instantly, I had to paint another one for sure, though I felt tired. Sat down on a bench, set up my Best Brella umbrella, enjoyed the ocean breeze while working on my second painting... Suddenly, there was a strong wind that blew my umbrella out of the connecting tube, it was blown across a steep ledge and into the ocean. Almost at the same moment I put down my brush, jumped off the bench and ran down the ledge of the water. But the umbrella was sinking fast, my arm wasn't long enough to reach...

So quiet and empty, I felt lost and confused while driving on the the same road in the same town. Everywhere looks much better without traffic doesn't it? I really like this little historical place, very paintable. Did a quick sketch, but it didn't help to lock my painting into a better composition. What I enjoyed painting directly on the paper with my watercolor brush without drawing, so my painting came out loose. Happy Labor Day! Hard to believe it is the beginning of September already. Hope everyone enjoy today and have a great month!

Add caption Another interesting new place I went to paint that used to be a horse ranch owed by the McClellan family in the 1930s, and still preserves the original ranch house, a working milk barn, livestock barn, and a replica blacksmiths shop, along with a natural reserve in the middle of the park. So many new ideas for painting, could not manage all in one small outdoor work. My inspiration is from nature, painting outdoors helps me feeling meditative and alive, though I usually am exhausted after it all.