Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

"Without great solitude, no serious work is possible." -- Pablo Picasso I keep reminding myself that I don't have to spend hours on the road for one or two paintings at the location each day. Not sure why I keep doing it. Wednesday was my first time painting at Montara State Beach on Cabrillo Hwy. It was cold and gray, only 50 degrees, though I was well prepared. Does it mean "passion", I hope so. It is the artist's duty to be inspired and create. And most time I was really isolated, no signals for cell phone and computer, only my outdoor painting station, and only my working clothes on, and me...

Got caught into traffic in the morning. Spent an hour and half drive for only 30 minutes on location. My first time at this place. Only had enough small change for two hours parking. The park was charming, some workers were trimming the trees while I was painting. Leaves had changed colors, many coy fish swimming in the pond. I could hear the fish jumping, maybe looking for food... I tried to paint as fast as I could, and did a small sketch when waiting for the my painting to dry. Time had run out, had to pack and go. Do you think this painting finished?

A nice day being in nature, my first time painting here. Love the morning fogginess in the distance. Tried many colors to express the fall feeling, but light and reflection changed too fast. Another gorgeous place to which I must return. On the way back I lost track on the road and ended up at a local small store. Spent $2, bought this 1 foot by 3-foot oblong nan bread, might be lavash -- middle eastern bread anyway. It was so yummy, I kept eating it while driving. If my home were further away, I could have finished the whole nan, haha... You could imagine how yummy the bread was , and how starving I was after painting outdoors all day, lol...

I really did not want to stay indoors on such a gorgeous autumn day. A new location I just discovered on Skyline Blvd in Woodside was on my mind, and had to give it a try. It was challenging and fun driving on the winding Moody and Skyline roads. A couple of sharp turns were about 300 degrees. Tasting room was closed on Tuesday, but that special deep dry grape smell was with me while I was painting in a very peaceful spot in front of the pond. Just love this harvest season! Will be back to paint again!  (November 5 2019)

Sunday I went to support all the Plein Aire Artists in Capitola. Saw old artist friends and met new ones. Many beautiful artworks painted at that location in the past few days. I got inspired, especially listening to the judge Paul Kratter's educational speech when awarded the winning artists. He shared his rich art knowledge with us on each winning piece and why it was the best of his choice in the category. I was so happy that a couple of my friends had won the awards, and some artworks were sold! Monday was warm, painted the front landscape of the Santa Clara City Hall. The bronze statue of St. Clare was sculpted by Ann Van Kleeck in the 1960's. I didn't need to use my tripod, put my easel on the decorative low garden wall in front of a restaurant since the restaurant wasn't opened yet. I think I would like to paint locally instead of spending hours driving on the road. Once in a while is OK. Plein Air should become visual artist's life style. What do you think?...

I caught a real live spider inside my house on Halloween morning, and released it to outside in natural. Having learned my lesson yesterday, I painted at the nearby location today. Easy day, leaves have started changing colors, noon still felt hot in the sun. Got to love the weather, but we do need rain to save more families🙏, stop the fires and for the agriculture as well.

A few sketches I did when traveling on the train in Spain weeks ago. I really enjoyed people watching there, wish everyone could be my model. Today I planned to paint at the San Mateo Memorial Park. My car GPS didn't give the location, I only could follow Google maps, started all in red on the high way 280. Turned on the route 84, everything looked so beautiful through the dappled sunlight, especially all the tall redwoods. I enjoyed driving on the winding roads, thought that my driving skill has definitely improved since I had started doing Plein Air. An accidentally-killed dead deer's half body was left on the roadside. Inside the mountains, Google maps asked to make U turns a couple times, I knew I hadn't arrived, didn't follow. It was my first time to be at this location and I finally arrived to a sign announcing that the park was closed due to a high fire situation. Bummer... Of course it was reasonable since the Sonoma big fire hasn't been put down yet. ...

Drove to Guglielmo Winery in Morgan Hill this morning. The air was chilled, temperature suddenly dropped down 20 plus degrees, though felt the summer only the day before. Excited to try my birthday present Escoda brushes bought in Barcelona. Said "Hola" to a worker looked like a Mexican guy, he responded in English. I laughed at myself to use one of the few words I knew in Spanish not to the right person. Did two quick watercolor sketches, and if possible to take a longer time to get to used to the new brushes I believe. Left around noon, it was still feeling dry and hot in the sun.  (October 28 2019)