Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

2020 Day30 Strada easel thirty one day painting challenge is almost ended. I have gone through and made my own process. Really there is so much to learn in the rest of my life. Today I was a little bit "ambitious" for my #30 work started at day 1 this year, brought a used panel 20"x16". Feeling the time was chasing me for three hours, all my concentration and energy cost had made me sweat in winter, I couldn't believe it. But I didn't have time to stop, till the end, I was exhausted... I didn't manage my time well, won't be able to get to the point I could take a break. Many corrections, I have to wait for next section later.

2020 Day29 I bought five bananas, only did a watercolor sketch of two of them. It was my first time doing a study on bananas, found they were not as easy as they looked. I am not a realistic painter, no matter whether a simple subject or a complicated one, keep practicing is the only way to become a better artist. Do you agree? Also it took me a couple of tries to display them.

2020 Day28 I always love portrait paintings, used to study on the photos I captured. Not today, a real model face study was challenging， struggled through three hours. The model he had American Indian blood, I tried to capture his honorable and proud stature. I was happy at this point. Of course there were many small areas I wanted to correct, but had to wait... On the way out, someone recognize the model from my portrait, she was excited and that made me happy. BTW, does anyone know which brand of linseed oil carrier metal bottle is good? The rubber part was old, and the linseed leaked. Also, the filter was too sharp, made my brush spread. Just ordered more brushes, now I need a new oil carrier.

2020 Day27 I trimmed most of my plants before Chinese Lunar New Year, and had these trimmed branches in a glass jar of olives since then. Finally, I did a watercolor sketch before the flowers drooped. The Abutilon Flowering Maple Chinese Lantern Plant is one of my favorite plants. When we moved into this house eleven years ago, I did a little research before I started gardening. I focused on the plants that could live well in the shade and attract hummingbirds, also ones that bloom often annually . I discovered this Chinese lantern flower was the absolutely perfect plant, I love that the leaves look like maple leaves, the bell shape flowers look like Chinese Lanterns, and it can produce flowers almost year around. These plants really helped to attract hummingbirds who moved into my neighborhood, I watched hummingbird mother guard territory, built nest, raise and train her babies over the years, took countless footage of course. Now, my plant is at least three meters tall, it makes me ...

2020 Day24, Day25 and Day26 Too busy for celebrating Chinese New Year eve, ate too much food... Only did watercolor sketch...

2020 Day23 Tomorrow night will be the Chinese New Year's Eve, I haven't thought about what I should prepare for dinner. Life is quite simple here, lucky me! Tuesday I just picked up oils again. Today I went there early and did a short meditation before the Section. I kept reminding myself to relax and follow my feeling to paint - the internal visual voice... I wasn't sure which one helped, but I was a little bit happier with the result than last time. Any feedback?

2020 Day22 Do you know the interesting history behind Meadowlark Dairy? Have you tried their dairy products yet? Each time, I saw people in queues in front of the Meadowlark Dairy as I was passing by. To satisfy my curiosity, I planned to do Plein Air, also because there was a demo of Stephen Berry's, organized by CWA at the Firehouse Art Center. It was gray with some sprinkling in the morning when I was on the road to Pleasanton. Luckily, it turned into beautiful with dramatic clouds. I didn't manage time well for my painting, some areas I had to leave them. Ran to the Firehouse Art Center. Stephen did a great demo, also his English was clear and easy to me to understand. But I heard my tummy was grumbling at the demo, realized that I didn't have lunch again. Haha, Chinese New Year is coming, there is plenty delicious food to enjoy then... Meadowlark was the first certified dairy in California founded in early 1900's. The dairy has been a drive-though since it o...

2020 Day21 Picked up oil again, struggling for three hours, not a good result...

What a busy long weekend! 2020 Day18 In Chinese tradition, each household starts major cleaning after Kitchen God day. Besides that we had an appointment at noon, morning and afternoon we cleaned our garage and backyard. I went to a local Chinese friend's solo exhibit opening at a gallery nearby later. In between all these things, I did a watercolor sketch. 2020 Day19 Only had a quick still-life watercolor sketch at home. Afternoon went to Michael Reardon's watercolor demonstration in San Jose. Later, joined a Chinese Year of the Rat group New Year Celebration exhibit in Sunnyvale. I had a three pieces showing at the Gallery. Friends and artists came and had fun at the opening... 2020 Day20 Just found out my name is not on the participating in the January STRADA 31-Day Challenge. Hopefully it would be corrected soon. This is my 2nd time joining the #stradaeasel January 31 days daily painting from life is challenging. I bought a Strada Easel two years ago when I ...

2020 Day17 The Kitchen God is the most important of many Chinese domestic gods that protect the hearth and family. I am not sure that it is a religion or if it is just folklore. Our Chinese culture believes that on the twenty third day of the last lunar month, just before Chinese New Year, the Kitchen God(灶君) returns to Heaven to report all the activities of every household over the past year to Yu Huang, the Jade Emperor(玉皇大帝). The Jade Emperor, emperor of the heaven, who either rewards or punishes a family based on Kitchen God's annual report. Anyway, there are only few days each year we could see snow on top of the distant mountains at our location. It was a beautiful and cold day. Staying at home I painted another still-life. The mouse pot holder I found out the other day was made of silicone rubber. I bought another squash just because I loved the colors. So I made my still-life more fun looking, and hoping it will usher in a happy year of the rat.  At the same time I...

2020 Day16 Raining day staying at home. This is what I painted today, spring onions in a clay pot next to the kitchen window. Chinese cooking needs spring onions. I buy a branch occasionally, and put them into this pot with water to keep them fresh. Could not recall how many times I wanted to paint it, especially during the afternoon when the sun shines on it. Unfortunately, there was no sunlight on a rainy day like today, but I won't complain, California needs the rain.

Add caption 2020 Day15 40% chance to rain, then I decided to stay at home. Thought I could paint my aloe vera, but I just discovered they were so sick from the rain without sun. It was one of my most favorite plants, and I used it so many times to recover from sunburns, cuts or cooking burns. I felt bad that I didn't take good care of my plant, though most of them were succulents. Spent an hour or two to clean up. Tried not to upset myself. Then I found a rat pot holder I bought sometime ago that I forgot about it. The Year of Rat is coming in 10 days. Did a watercolor black and white sketch before starting to use it.

2020 Day14 Kept my promise and came back to paint the red boat at the Coyote Point Recreation park. Mike the boat owner was there, and we chatted a little bit. It was gray with wind, and I couldn't finish it, because of another figure drawing class. Ate a cracker for lunch. Did two sketches from the model in limited watercolor pallet. I thought I could have the red boat painting completed tonight, but starving and exhausted, just wanted to go to bed...

2020 Day13 Instantly decided to go and paint at Alviso after looking out of window and seeing those dramatic clouds in the early afternoon. I changed my strategy to avoid rush hour traffic. Came for the landscape for sure, but also any unique subject that I couldn't see often I would do it. I discovered a group of mushrooms and did a watercolor sketch. I didn't bring a chair, couldn't sit on the wet ground. You could imagine it wasn't easy to do. It was a beautiful day. We don't usually see clouds, only during our winter rainy season. The wet land looked amazing with the reflection of the clouds in the water. Suddenly, hundreds birds started flying together. Super bright white birds against the mountains with the shadow of the clouds in the background. That precious moment what I saw really took my breath away. Then I parked my car, decided to wait to see the birds flying together again. Did a sketch while I was waiting. What I was waiting for did not happen, ...

2020 Day11 No matter how busy during the weekend, I did not forget to do a watercolor sketch today... 2020 Day12 This watercolor sketch was what I did today. Are you a multitasking person? Can you create art while chatting? I have noticed there are people who manage time very well. I wish that I could be that way. But I feel time is chasing me all around, because I only can do one thing at the time, .. Time management is so important in life. I've known about it a long time, still have to learn how to manage mine better.

2020 Day10 "You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over." -- Richard Branson Started a bit late. Each time I came here to paint boats, but not today. After one painting was done, the light and shadows made the same landscape dramatic, so I had to paint another one. It was cold after sun went down, the second one didn't work out the way I wanted, just because the Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140p Watercolor paper I used couldn't dry in such weather condition. I was inpatient and ruined it... Well, learned and try not to make the same mistake...

2020 Day9 Two years ago I bought this drawing pad and wanted to do figure drawings. I found this pad hiding under my table when I cleaned up my studio room before the new year. It was raining a little bit and good excuse not painting outdoors. I've only had a couple of time figure drawing experiences, totally a beginner. Sat next to a very experienced artist, wanted to learn from him. Ended up directly facing the model was super-difficult for me to draw. Also I was too busy working on my own drawing to talk to the other artist. Pretty tough for three hours, not mentioned I didn't have the right pencils and charcoals. Hopefully I will be able to get better soon. Any feedback?

2020 Day8 What a busy day staying at home! Thought about how to create an auspicious work for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year - the Year of Rat. Actually I had been thinking about it since last Christmas. I used to be very good and fast when I worked as a graphic/web designer a long time ago... I had forgotten how much I had to go through with the design process, it made my head ache. Focused on the limited items I had, using traditional colors, meaningful symbols, and symmetrical layout. I enlarged an ancient coin, which means prosperity, wrote Fu, Lu, Shou and Xi, those mean Luck, Prosperity, Longevity and Happiness on the coin in an ancient writing style. I only had one little rat, so I drew one, then flipped it to draw it again on the other side, made them look like they are communicating to each other by changing the shapes slightly, so one looks like a male, the other a female. They could be a couple, lovers or love at first sight. My most challenging part was to draw tw...

2020 Day7 Over an hour driving instead of thirty minutes on 101 this morning. Sunny day, came to one of my favorite spots to paint boats. There were clouds, air planes flying overhead, boats, birds and reflections in the water, trees and mountains in distance... I thought a boat on the ground being fixed was an interesting subject. Tried wet into wet technique. I know it is one of the tougher parts to master - using the right amount of water to paint spontaneously. I was happy with the study result. Mike, who was fixing the boat, told me that boat would be here next week. So I think I will be back to paint it again next week. Hopefully it only rains during the evening time, California needs it🌧.

2020 Day6 Came to the Saint Clare Parish, we used to live nearby. It is a parish in the Roman Catholic Diocese of San Jose in California, but is located in Santa Clara, California. Looked like good weather, The winter sun shone on the church wall making it super-white and contrasted the blue sky. But it was really cold in the morning. Took me longer to finish the drawing. I didn't used the wet into wet technique to paint, otherwise the Fabriano Artistico Extra White Watercolor paper I used could not be dry fast enough in the shade on a day like today. Cars passing by, I only saw a few people walking in the street. One young guy on his skateboard skating by told me that my work was great in a very positive voice. Another person drove by opened his window and asked me where the Mission was. It was a quiet place. Do you know that artist mostly live the life of solitude?

2020 Day5 Tried to create another one for the upcoming Lunar New Year - Year of the Rat. Just a watercolor wash. Still thinking, will continue trying a couple more ideas...

2020 Day4 We bought this simple coffee espresso maker at least fifteen years ago. I painted it, because I was inspired by Keiko Tanabe' s demo a couple of months ago at our location. Her source was a local car wash, had the misty atmosphere which she recreated. It was a great idea! And finally I did this watercolor sketch by seeing my husband making coffee where the steam came out around the cup, which he bought recently from Starbucks Christmas sale. Just because he loved the cup had fox painted on it and it made him happy. I can not drink coffee nor tea, I mean the good quality ones. I tried thousands of times and ended up to just upset my stomach. Because I couldn't stand the tempting smells, had to experience the taste since I was young. Strong flavor or light fragrant coffee, green tea or black, you name them... Getting older, married to a guy who cannot live cannot coffee nor tea every day. He has to have them all super-strong too.

2020 Day3 I thought I should create a piece for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year - Year of the Rat by the auspicious symbols in our culture. I just don't want to copy the stuff I have. Spent hours in the afternoon, but the painting looked like this... I tried to think positively how I could improve the painting. Any suggestions?

2020 Day2 Have you been to the Red Barn at Stanford? Do you know it was a horse farm that produced champion racehorses before Stanford became a world class university? My first time visiting and painting at the location. It was a beautiful day, I brought a very young Chinese artist friend with me. We met at a watercolor event in Shanghai where she was from last year. She came to visit her relatives in Silicon Valley. She told me that it was her first time being so close to real horses. The barns were very clean and well-organized, and the horses were gentle and well trained. I painted one landscape, she did a couple of sketches. I took a selfie with a super cooperated horse, seemed that she really enjoyed posing, lol... We learned that now the Stanford Red Barn is home to the Stanford Equestrian Team, the Stanford Red Barn Equestrian Center, and their affiliated programs. Definitely I will be back to paint again for sure.

Happy New Year! 新年快樂!  How was your New Year day? 2020 Day1 Gave myself a couple days off before the New Year, studied about art history. Today was gray, I came to the location to paint my favorite subject boats. Saw many people walking on the Harbor, some of them bought crabs from the local fishermen. It started sprinkling, so I had to do my work inside the car. The fishing boat I worked on was very interesting, but it wasn't easy to do... I did a drawing, a watercolor sketch. And brought a crab for our dinner table for celebrating the first day of 2020.