Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

(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. ...

Last week while painting at Sue's farm, the owner of Branscomb farms invited us to come paint. Last time I forgot to charge my car, but saw I had enough electricity and gas to cover the total mileage today. I followed Google maps this time to the address, because my car GPS didn't even show the address. After Cabrillo highway, I turned onto a street and got lost after over a mile up a dirt road. Finally Google told me to u-turn so I circled back and followed the new directions to a narrow private road where there wasn't anyone around and I arrived at a locked gate. A pickup truck suddenly pulled up from behind with a young guy and 2 dogs, he pointed me back down the dirt road again. I was worried to get a flat as we just changed to new tires so every mile counted... I thought I'd rather go paint boats at Johnson's Pier so headed out. On my way I saw a guy opening an unmarked gate and it turned out to be the farm. After over half an hour of goose chasing it was ...

(April 21 2021) Not like last week, only 50 degrees at the location. Very cold to paint watercolors, the paper refused to dry. And not to mention that I tried to painted too much detail for a Plein Air work. Really should simplify what was there. Maybe it would look better if only I did a greyscale. Good thing was I had no allergies to bother me today at Half Moon Bay.  Drove back, it was 70 degrees.

(April 14 2021) A gorgeous day at the location, even my allergies didn't bother me much. Got there and walked around, there was a red barn, a horse barn and horse trailers with horses in and out, chicken coop with roosters and hens, a mustard field and distant mountains. They were all nice subjects for painting, but I had to make a quick decision before the light changed too much, So I painted this red barn, and replaced the further broken fences in front. I probably could design a better composition that will work better... Next time, I will be back for sure.

  (April 13 2021) My allergies bother me, but, could not help myself, got ambitious to paint nearby flowers today. This is not my usual subject, I have to wait another year to paint if I miss it this year. There are several hundred year old wisteria vines in bloom on the arbor designed for the 1822 Mission at the east side of the courtyard at mission Santa Clara. Plus more than ten different kinds of other plants, most were blooming super beautiful this time. I found a corner spot in the morning, lighting was perfect. A couple of years ago I painted here in oils. I needed to test my new Fabriano Artisco watercolor paper. After my small sketch, I drew carefully on this newer version softer paper, didn't feel much difference. Then I was cautiously starting applying watercolors to it. Seemed like it doesn't allow me to make mistakes anymore. Might just be my "psychology issue". So far this new paper works fine for me... Hope it never cause trouble.