Plein Air @ Joseph D. Grant Park, Mt. Hamilton CA


Drove through a narrow winding road to the location, I could see this beatiful Santa Clara Valley scene from the hill this fine morning.

My first time painting at this location, though I had been there several times before, hiking or just passing by.  


I didn't see the old barn that I wanted to paint; it was supporse to be nearby. Found a spot at the shore of the Grand Lake and painted next to an other local artist who was working with oil media.

Old oak trees in the distance, California poppies were blooming on the hills, birds singing and catching each other, frogs in the lake...


Such a gorgeous spring time, but I knew it was not my typical scene to paint.  Finished the work, walked around chatted with the other artists.

Actually,  I found the old barn really was not far from where we were painting, have to come back again.
(April 29 2024)
San Francisco Bay Area CA San Francisco, CA, USA
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

Original Art Story - The Colors of La Boca Argentina

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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)...
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Paintings with Auspicious Symbols V - Peacocks 孔雀東南飛

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Short-pose live male model drawings

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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)
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Work in Progress, live models studies - long and short pose

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Short pose live female model study

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Happy Mother's Day - The Red Shoes

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This piece won the 1st place in the Contest - Shoes on May 18th, 2012.  This painting was inspired by "The Red Shoes", which was first introduced to me by my mother. To me The Red Shoes has become a symbol of a career woman who has devoted her life to her job, or made some sacrifice in life. I painted this piece with my love for my mother.  Slowly I understand her more and more day after day. Happy Mother's Day! Inside and out Mom and I are so different, only one thing I have in common with her - a fast walk. She is outgoing, can make friends everywhere she goes through a very short conversation, rich or poor, old or young, higly educated person or without any education, even in different cultures, sometimes without language communication... She was beautiful and talented in theater arts, dancing, singing and acting. She was chosen to be an actress in a couple of movies when she was very young. Then she became a principal opera singer (western style) preformed o...
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Plein Air trip @ Carmel by the sea, CA

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Four-day-trip, it wasn't long, especially when we painted at the one of most beautiful places, Point Lobos State Natural Reserve. Three artist friends together, we made progress from May 3 to May 6. It was a nice and clear afternoon when we checked in Hyatt Carmel Highlands - Hyatt Inn.  There was an amazing sunset view overlooking Big Sur Coast from our room every dawn.  Bought enough food from Safe Way.  We cooked and ate branches, and late dinners, went out painting about six hours each day.     Weather was unpredictable, it changes dramatically all the time, from warm sunny to windy foggy in one hour.   First day wasn't easy, didn't know how to handle the fast changes.  Then started to learn and improved...  I did two watercolor paintings, one sketch on the first day. After dinner, one of the artists suggested painted another still life after I arranged our food on the table. Next day, we painted at Garrapata State Park. T...
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A White Peacock - 一只白孔雀

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I remember that my father took me to the Beijing Zoo when I was about five one Sunday morning. There were about 20 peacocks that lived on a bird island with a hundred other birds, like crays, swans, ducks, etc... When we arrived, there were some parents with their children watching birds - especially the peacocks. I was told that the peacocks might open up their feathers when they saw pretty colors. Some parents would dress up their children with colorful clothes, but I only wore in my father's favorite color, sky blue. We both mentioned the same white peacock was our favorite. It seemed that white peacock heard us and turned around facing me, then opened up its feathers immediately. A lot of people clapped their hands for what they saw - the most glorious shining feathers opening up against the morning sunlight - like a Chinese fan. Of course to me as a little girl, it was the most beautiful and precious moment to experience joy with my father when he big and strong hand was holdi...
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