Plein Air @ Japanese Garden San Mateo CA 加州風景寫生

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?
Storytelling artist Xueling Zou who works in ♦️ watercolor & ♦️ oil mediums on ♦️ original art Plein Air paintings. Ship worldwide since 2010 @ https://about.me/xuelingzou@ about.me/xuelingzou or http://xueling-zou.pixels.com

Original Art Story

The Old Man and The Sea - Original Watercolor

Image
This original watercolor painting was inspired by Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and The Sea.  It is one of my favorite watercolors, and a great gift for Father's Day. (Please click the image to enlarge) I read this book in Chinese a long time ago, then I read it again in English when I was studying in Australia. Back to my overseas studying time, I had to take the ferries from the place I lived to school each day for a while. Not mention the terrible home sick I had, the ending of relationship with my first boy-friend, when I struggled with every single little detail in life. But nothing could stop my love of the ocean and I enjoyed taking ferries on beautiful and stormy days. Watching the sun-rising or sun-setting, sailing by the magnificent city landscape and the awesome boats out on the sea, I promised myself that I knew I would overcome the difficulties... Years later, I started painting watercolors after moving to Bay Area in California, and the first one in m...
Read more

Original Art Story - The Colors of La Boca Argentina

Image
Colorful La Boca grew to become an Italian (mostly from Genoa) district of Buenos Aires, Argentina in a very short time in mid-19th-century. It used to be the area where Italian immigrants arrived, and settled in the poorest of conditions. Their houses were built by the leftover corrugated iron and other waste found in the nearby harbour and industry on the Riachuelo river. In order to make the neighbourhood more interesting, they decided to paint their houses in bright colors by using the leftover paint from boats - hence the many different colours that can be seen. Where first a small river flowed, the area that now is Caminito had tracks installed, and when those were not used anymore, this developed into an ugly, abandoned part of La Boca. There were several museums with paintings portraying its hard-working inhabitants in the shipyards and on the docks. Local artist Quinquela Martín painted the walls of the street, which now we know as Caminito (which means little path in Spanish)...
Read more

Paintings with Auspicious Symbols V - Peacocks 孔雀東南飛

Image
I was inspired by the Chinese traditional folk art style to create a couple of peacocks with eight peony-flowers oil painting on canvas recently, which I named "Peacocks Flying Southeast 孔雀東南飛". "Peacocks Flying Southeast" is well-known to Chinese and is a phenomenal poem in Chinese literary history. It is one of the collections of the Music Academy (YueFu) formed by the Han Dynasty (196—219 AD) courts to gather literary works created largely for the common people. It was about a tragic love story between a young couple, who promised to love each other forever. Perhaps the morbid mother-in-law could not stand the daughter-in-law coming between her and her son. Eventually she broke up the marriage when her son was working out of the town. The young couple’s dream and promise of living together was shattered. Both their families forced them to marry someone else. So this young couple took their own lives, fulfilling their commitment of love in a different world....
Read more

Chinese Moon Festival II - A Classical Poem and Homesick 中秋节思乡

Image
Dream in the Night — Interpreted by Xu YuanChong Abed, I see a silvery light, I wonder if it's frost aground. Looking up, I find the moon bright; Bowing, in homesickness I'm drowned. 静夜思 — 李白 床前明月光， 疑是地上霜。 举头望明月， 低头思故乡。 (Please click the image to enlarge) This poem written by Li Bai (701 – 762) who was a major Chinese poet of the Tang dynasty poetry period  - China's "golden age" of classical Chinese poetry (  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Li_Bai ). It was one of the first classical poems I was taught before my primary school. Of course, I would not know the meaning at that young age. The older I get and the farther I live from home, the deeper I feel this poem, which is more often appearing in my head. Hiding my tears used to be part my character. But now, I can no longer control it behind my eyes whenever I think of it... Another Mid-Autumn Festival is coming again, which is a popular lunar harvest festival celebrated by Chinese...
Read more

Short-pose live male model drawings

Image
Always look forward to drawing nude models for their short poses. But I felt it was super challenging to draw this one. His body proportions were unique, long and slim. He posed in many twisty positions while standing, I only could try my best, many other artist said that they felt not easy to draw him too. Felt better by knowing I was not the only one that had a hard time. Hahaha... (April 26 2022)
Read more

Short-pose live male model drawings

Image
Seems that working in the studio and Plein Air outdoors are quite different in many ways. Went to Carmel Plein Air painting with my friends for four days, missed the last session for short-pose live model drawing. So I found that I had difficult time to draw. No matter two minutes, five minutes or ten minutes, I could not draw fast and correctly enough, didn't have time to draw a leg or arm. This model was good, he worked very hard, I saw his body shaking during the pose. Of course we all pay good tips to our models. (May 10 2022)
Read more

Plein Air @ Alviso Marina County Park San Jose CA

Image
It was not a warm morning at the location. I got to one of my favorite painting spots and decided to paint again at this location. Couldn't remember how many times I've painted there before. Still, I started with a thumbnail, almost the same layout from my memory as before. I tried to use less water as it was hard to dry given the weather. One lady walked by me to complement my work, but she she surprised me and immediately apologized and told me that she was just walking by. Later some male voice was even louder behind me saying that it was a beautiful painting. That really scarred me a lot. Turned around and I saw two policemen driving by, they were kind and smiled, apologized as well. Then asked me when I started my work. I didn't really pay much attention, told them around nine o'clock. After they left, I realized that it might not have told them the correct time, they might misunderstand me and think I was not honest enough, oh, no.... Saw several other artis...
Read more

Plein Air @ Coyote Hills Regional Park Fremont CA

Image
Didn't feel well for days, my fist time painting at Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont in the afternoon today. It was very hot, 102 degrees. And it was quite windy! But no matter what kind of weather condition it can not stop Plein Air painters. So happy to see some of my painting friends from California Art Club, Elle Howard, Richard Lindenberg, Paul Kratter, Robyn Leimer, Abby Zhang, etc. Finally, we could hug and shake our hands, fifteen months of lock down time was over. After a short catch up, we found our own spots to paint. The wetland was not my typical scene to paint, it was challenging for me. I forgot to bring my clips, borrowed two from Abby. I kept the painting loose. Great to have Paul Kratter's professional feedback. Always so much to learn from other artists! What a fun afternoon to catch up with others! (June 18 2021)
Read more

Live model Long and short pose studies on Tuesday

Image
There were many areas that bothered me on Tuesday's portrait study, so I decided to correct it. Worked on the panel for an hour.  Finally, I erased it all and spent a whole day repainting it. Checked my previous work, the last figurative portrait from a live model was nine weeks ago. No wonder I couldn't paint the way  I used to, lol  (August 26 2022) Can't believe that it was nine weeks ago that I did my last oil painting live model session study. Today's model was a good one too, but my process was much slower, and result was different than I expected. The short pose live model was late, a couple of people did several poses for us. I felt my sketches came out better than last week. Not kidding, every artist must keep practicing daily to see long term improvement.  (August 23 2022)
Read more

Study on Boats II - Watercolor Paintings

Image
"A work of art is the energy manifestation of the one who created it. It holds the spirit of the artist within its shapes, forms, and colors.... When we observe a painting, the light and energy systems of our bodies and minds meet the energy system of the painting."― Audrey Flack "Art &Soul - Notes on Creating") “Tears are a river that takes you somewhere…Tears lift your boat off the rocks, off dry ground, carrying it downriver to someplace better.”― Clarissa Pinkola Estés (born 27 January 1945; is an American poet, post-trauma specialist and Jungian psychoanalyst) “To put meaning in one's life may end in madness, But life without meaning is the torture Of restlessness and vague desire-- It is a boat longing for the sea and yet afraid.” ― Edgar Lee Masters (1868 – 1950; was an American poet, biographer, and dramatist) “Let your boat of life be light, packed with only what you need - a homely home and simple pleasures, one or two friends, worth the name, s...
Read more