Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

🙏Say a prayer for those killed at the shooting in San Jose today! Planned to paint at Pigeon Point Lighthouse for a while now. Because it is always super-windy, I kept checking weather report, my instincts told me many times not to go. Quickly checked it again this morning and it was OK to paint during my usual Plein Air hours. First my car wasn't fully charged, but i had enough juice to cover the miles. Loaded my painting gear into car. Then my car GPS directed me to an unusual way, seemed a little bit further. It was not a big deal. Only myself driving on the dappled sunlit road, I enjoyed seeing all the beautiful redwood trees. Only a person in front of me drove super slow later, and I had to pass by when I had the chance. Enjoyed the magnificent ocean scenery. Finally, got into a big line waiting for the road work only 2.8 miles before arriving at the Lighthouse. No matter how much I wanted to start my painting earlier, I had to wait patiently... It was cold and windy, only ...

Planned to paint at Brisbane marina today, but it looked like it would be too windy there. So many other places that I had in my mind to go painting, but unfortunately my car wasn't charged. Instantly, St Clare Parish popped up inside my head, because I'd painted there once before during one of the coldest days of winter, wanted to paint there again on a nice day. Arrived there, but just was not ready to do it. Saw one person running by the side entrance of Santa Clara University. That was interesting so then I set up and painted at the same spot, but in a different angle.  The church bell rang, I guess it was around noon, and it started getting quite windy, hurriedly I finished it up. I have noticed that I can't paint the way I want if my mind is set on painting something else. Painting skill really does take so long to develop, and as a creative person like me switching media is still critical. All I know is keeping practice... (May 25 2021)

Another wonderful Monday morning doing sketching and listening to each person's story. Not everyone had a story about uniforms, but it was nice to see others and get to know them more each time we meet on Zoom. I still keep learning how to sketch and listen to the talking at the same time. I missed some part of the stories, just because my sketching brain and listening part are not connected well yet, but I enjoyed it a lot for sure.

It was a nice morning, my first here to paint with Julia Seelos, though more local artists were invited it wss just the 2 of us this day. After a short catch up, we found our own spots to paint. She is a more experienced Plein Air painter - for 15 years now. Her story inspired me that not too worry too much about strong wind, but it was calm anyway when we were painting there. The landscape scene was challenging for painting in watercolor, so I moved things around and created a slightly different composition on paper. So much to learn from Julia's devotion to art. She had a job, and she joined all the Plein Air event by using all of her vacations in the past, and not mention she has two artificial knees, and back surgery... Hope everyone understands that this is the spirit of a devoted artist, there is a great story behind each painting and every artist. (May 21 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...

Checked the weather report, it was going to be very windy every place I wanted to go. Went to a community Garden and painted these beautiful water Lilies inspired by Cloud Monet on such a lovely day. Good timing, the wind started getting stronger before I finished my painting. There were many activities surrounding this small pond. A lady told me that there were two turtles in it while she walked her dog passing by. Fish occasionally jumped out of water while I was looking at the water lilies. And ducks and geese landed and swam around. Dragon flies and other insects, squirrels, hummingbirds and other kinds of birds. I was happy with the result I got using high contrast and certain areas used wet into wet techniques on this painting. My watercolor palette is quite limited, I use mostly only a few colors. I like to buy unique colors, though I have very little chance to use them. Lucky, I brought some of them today, used Cobalt Violet for the base of water lily flowers, and Turquoise, b...

Never thought I would love Mondays, but it has me changed after I started drawing with this group of friendly people on Zoom. Today our topic was pets. Everyone shared their stories. One lady had got an adopted shelter dog birthday present from her sister - a couple of month old Husky. We all felt she was so joyful and exhausted taking care of the new baby dog. Another guy shared his sad story that his beloved 15-years cat just past away. I really enjoy listening each of the stories, very hard to focus on drawing.

(May 12 2021) Summer time really has arrived in the South Bay Area. Drove to Half Moon Bay this morning, definitely felt like traversing from summer to winter in about one hour. It was pretty cold, only 52 degrees at the location. And I didn't have any trouble to find the farm this time.  Painted watercolors on a grey day, so I decided to do a vertical one, only the easel were not designed for a 15" tall painting size, that was the reason I don't usually work in verticals.  It was a little challenging, besides the wind, I couldn't barely put any tiny bit weight on the painting for fear of it falling over.  Over all, I like my vertical layout today.  The hostess, KC Branscomb has been very kind in allowing us to paint at her farm, but we have to follow her very strict rules for parking, not to close to the horses, because these are breeding horses at the farm, and young horses in training, etc.. Anyway, we only were allowed to paint in certain area. ...

(May 11 2021) I painted almost at the exact the same spot on April 5 2018. I pulled out my old work to compare with today's. Is there any improvement? Of course it wasn't painted on the same sunny day like today. I did plan to paint at San Francisco Botanical Garden today. And I found out my car didn't get enough juice to cover the mileage. So came back to paint at one of my favorite local places again. It wasn't as quiet as usual, some construction was going on. One of the guys came to check me out if I had gotten my professional photography permission, but fortunately OK to paint here. Started a small sketch, then worked on my regular Fabiano 140p cold press watercolor paper. Forgot to mention how much I liked my new purchased Fabiano paper, I can feel the improved quality of the paper, especially the "tooth" of the surface to hold on water and colors. It is getting hot here, over 80 degrees around noon. There were mosquitos flying around and botheri...

  Yesterday was Mother's Day, today we shared our mothers' stories during the Zoom meeting. I believe that we all love our mothers, though we all know that no one is perfect. The topic brought many of us emotional feelings, some sweet or bitter... I was quite busy and tried to sketch each one of their special expressions. Just love it, and I could not believe that I had already forgotten what our topic is for next week. Hope it only was because I was too focused and not due to getting old and forgetful, hahaha...

Happy Mother's Day! Especially for those loving and caring for others unconditionally! Went to paint at the Japan town a little late this morning, just wanted to be close to a temple or a church for saying a prayer for my ancestors, especially for my two grandmothers and my father, since I couldn't visit their graveyard for the tomb sweeping day in China. Found a shady spot across the street, started to paint and think... Because of the COVID-19, I haven't see my old mother for two years now. Mother's Day is coming, even though I have my vaccination done, I still am not allowed to go to see her in China. Then I started felt quite sad about my situation... A guy came by and told me that he saw me crossing the street this morning and wondering what I was doing. Seemed like people were quite alert regarding their neighborhood. Saw two red-vested people walk by, looked like they were helping older people walk around. Before I finished my work, one of ladies wearing a red ve...

Always feel welcome and encouraged in this friendly group, drawing them was fun and frustrating at the same time.  We shared our pets' stories today on Zoom.  Each one of had stories about their experiences and personal love and care for their beloved pets.  It was so interesting that I could not concentrate drawing well. I had pets back when I was in China, and continue to have interesting experiences and connections with wildlife in nature and even in the neighborhood.  Only several minutes to talk, I only shared the most current story about my hummingbird neighbors. I keep watching them growing, will share the story later.

April 20 2021, the first egg was discover in the nest :). Time flies so fast, we moved in August 2008 and have been living in the same house for over twelve years now. After we moved in, I picked up a DVD from the local library about a hummingbird's story and learned that the hummingbird mother is always a single mother from the onset of pregnancy. Then I started planting some plants to attract hummingbirds. In spring of the 4th year we happily discovered a hummingbird mother had built a nest and raised her babies on a tree branch outside our window. I took so much footage, even caught one of the first flights of her babies. For the next couple of years I watched the hummingbird mothers successfully raising babies from spring to early summer, including the final training before the babies became independent. April 22 2021, the second egg was laid in the nest. For the next several years they weren't able to finish their motherhood experience unfortunately; one year the win...

After my work was done, I looked at it and was not sure which way looks better, full size horizontal or cropped vertical.  Can I have you consultation please? Thanks in advance! This morning I set my mind to painting an umbrella or umbrellas as my subject.  Saw a couple of spots where Mexican farmers were selling fruits on the street earlier but didn't see any this time.  Sunlight changes so fast, so I quickly changed direction to Franklin Square where I painted few times last year, and remembered a couple of potential subjects for Plein Air.  I spotted umbrellas across the street and set up my painting station in front of Mio Vicino Italian Restaurant, a popular one in Bay Area.  Of course, we ate there several times, no doubt that their food is delicious.  Didn't have time to make a small sketch.  It was getting busier as noon approached, and street parking filled up too. Luckily at this point that my nose is blocked by allergies, so I coul...