Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

My first time painting at this location.  A hot day, arrived a little early, but I realized that there wasn't any easy subject for me to paint. Did not want to waste the trip, so I dragged my painting gear and walked a while, then decided to paint from this angle.  Not enough variety of features to make the scene exciting but at least there were some white birds on the water. It was quite a annoying with so many bees buzzing around me.  I checked and cleaned up my paints in case they were attracting them.   After my painting was done and returned home, I started to wash my painting cloths.  Hopefully there won't be anything to attract insects next time. (August 28 2023)

I have been there a couple times before, but it was my first time painting at the location.  A gray day, drove on the winding highway 17 for about an hour, met up with several other artists at the parking lot of Natural Bridge State Beach. We found our own spots and started painting.  The spot I got was under eucalyptus tree branch, but at a higher level so I was able to see the Natural Bridge better. I asked a lady who carried a bucket, thought she was a fisherman.  But she told me that she picked up garbage on the beach as volunteer before her work.  So I drew her into my painting.  Later I saw another lady doing the same thing.  How wonderful! I removed my paints with honey medium already, as I'm not sure which paint attract honey bees. But I still got many bee visitors while I was painting. And a spider visitor too. Unfortunately, one of the artist got stung by a "yellow jacket". Seemed she was OK, moved to a new spot and painted another painting. I saw a eucalyptu

We always have an "Indian Summer" and it has been hot days for weeks. I decided to go to the Port because there was a subject I wanted to paint at the same spot, but from a different angle. I set up my work station and started on the drawing, which took me a little longer to finish. Because I wanted to try a different color palette, I hesitated to start. Also, there was only one boat next to the dock when I was here before, but many were parked there this morning. I have been thinking to use fewer colors for a long time, my first time to give it a try. The result seemed OK, better than I expected. Basically I wanted to focus on the value of the scene. It was getting windy around noon, and I finished up my work and packed up. Walked a bit around the port and discovered more subjects to paint. I will be back again for sure. (August 16 2023)

Nice morning, but it was grey and hot on location. It was my second time coming here to paint the Hayes Mansion.  It is a historic location but now it is Hilton Hotel. I found a spot on the patio and painted the view from that perspective. The angle I tried to paint was not easy to capture, especially on a grey day, because the light and shadow wasn't clear. Luckily, the, sun came out around noon, so I got a chance to correct my work a little bit. Later, I saw several old friends who were also Plein Air artists and we chatted.  They gave me some good feedback. (August 14 2023)