Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Got up with my lower back pain, and it was gray. I hesitated if I should go paint... I made up my mind to go after breakfast, just because it was a new painting location to me. There is always traffic on #101 now, no matter during the rush hour/hours or not. I got caught in it both ways. Felt happy to see that many artists already found their spots to paint after I got there and found this secret garden.   Beautifully designed building in Spanish Mediterranean-style architecture. I tried to find where I could paint, and realized that every turn I might block one of the artist's views. Finally, I stayed near the gateway area and painted this more complicated scene. A Chinese lady painter came back from Hawaii, I met her before padamic. Unfortunately her house was burned down their. She taught me some TaiQi for my back pain and report back on my progress after 2 weeks. She brought her 96-year-old father with her. I saw him sitting on a bench and drawing in the distance, I thou...

This morning was only 40 degrees when I started out driving on the road. I checked the weather that it wouldn't rain in the morning, thought I should go to Plein Air. I was pretty sure that I had painted at the Foothill park last spring, and remembered that it wasn't too cold while painting on a sunny morning. There were only a few vehicles in the park. I saw two people walking their dogs and drove on the top of the hill where I thought I did a painting last year, and noticed all the trees were growing taller in the distance. I still thought to paint the same spot, so I could see if my outdoor painting skills have improved. It was chilly, saw there was still snow  on top of the distant mountains.  I told myself that I should use as little water as possible for the watercolor Plein Air, from my years' experience, I learned that paper won't dry if there was too much water, especially in the cold weather. I heard a guy playing guitar and singing songs nearby me, but I was...

Did not go out painting for almost three weeks, so I went to Elizabeth Gamble Garden in the afternoon. There is always something inspiring for me to paint. Several subjects were in my mind, but none of them I could paint, the teahouse was undergoing renovation, and the water fountain didn't look nice during this visit. Set up my stuff and painted the nursery. Warmer than I thought, overdressed, but I didn't have different layers to take off. Sunset time is earlier, so I didn't finished and had to pack up in hurry. Arrived at the studio, we had a male model tonight. Not often we have male model to practice, felt strenuous during the three hours of drawing short poses. Also I started using different a kind of paper today.  This type of paper doesn't have the tooth to grab the charcoal, too smooth for me.  But I just start using them.  Hopefully I could overcome it soon.. Had finished 500 pieces of paper in one year of studio figure drawings, hope to get a little improveme...

It is such a beautiful home and garden to visit. We came often whenever we passed by. Hadn't visited it for a long time, probably since pandemic. I always wanted to paint here too, though it was challenging, no matter how much I love plants, my reaction to pollen can bother me for days. Never mind, I told myself that I had to go. Surprisingly, there was no parking left in the morning, so I parked my car in the street. And saw many volunteers working in the garden. Most of they looked like seniors. It was not easy to find a subject to paint. So much variety, encompassing herb & rose gardens, a historic home, a carriage house & a tearoom... I walked around it twice, almost decided to paint the tearoom, because it was my first time seeing the door open, but I was fascinated by the gorgeous lotus glowing leaves in the water fountain under the morning sunlight. Immediately, I set up my workstation and started to draw. A small bird accompanied me less than ten feet away while I...

Many painters get inspired by this location, but I always find that it is difficult to paint. Nice afternoon to meet several artist friend there. Looked that they were half way done when I arrived. Lucky I found this tree, otherwise I couldn't see anything vertical standing out to paint. Near sunset, it was gorgeous! (January 28 2022)

Palo Alto Baylands Nature preserve is one of those places that has been inspiring most California Plein Air painters for years. I went to paint several times, hadn't found a better way to express it then through watercolor media yet. It was a little cooler today, grey with dramatic clouds in the sky at the location. Felt a little lost with my new color palette, could not follow my usual watercolor's flow to loosen up. And Alizarin Crimson made a small mess, not sure why it was so liquid?  Anyway, I painted a scene  moving objects around a bit, and I wish I would be inspired by this place to return and paint again someday soon.  Good day for practicing.

Not really happy with the painting I did at this location. Went back and move away a little bit from the spot I did last week. Nice day but windy, there was no clouds hanging in front of the mountains either. Tried to work the contrast. Robin another artist from San Francisco brought a box of lemons from her tree to share. She was very thoughtful, had the cute not on the box, and the paper bags. So appreciate all the lemons, I used the lemon juice to reduce my allergies.  (February 24 2021)

It was only 30 degrees in the morning, frost on the roof. Usually I paint in front of the water body at this location. Saw the beautiful landscape with the distant mountains in a veil of clouds. Closer rolling hills were green and lovely so I decided on this subject. Two young kids wanted to watch what I was doing. But they were not patient enough, then started jumping around me. I had to tell them that I needed to concentrate on painting, so they left. Painting under the sun felt warm and healing. Don't you agree? (February 17 2021)

A gray day painting out on location. Thought I was over dressed when the sun came out. Later I felt so cold, only a few steps from my car, but I didn't want to stop. Still learning how to manage time while painting outdoors, especially doing watercolor. Miracles only come from practicing daily for an artist. (Nov.11 2020)  

As much as I wanted to continue practicing figure and portrait painting, I thought that I'd better avoid the chance to get inflected by the coronavirus. Of course, always happy to paint outdoors for sure. Monday I went to Foothills park, ran into two other Plein Air artists painting there. A group of Chinese women were having a picnic at the park, their food smell delicious, it made me hungry. So I had to drag my stuff a little bit further from them to concentrate on my painting...

It was a grey day, I liked the dramatic sky and fall feeling. There were many kinds of birds, and my first time seeing Goldeye ducks from a distance. There were a lot of people jogging or walking. Some schoolchildren were out there for their nature class. More people were out of the office during lunch break. I painted the second one by turning ninety degrees at the same spot basically. My work got many compliments, including from those young students. It made me happier that more people knew how to appreciate an artist's work in progress, especially in Silicon Valley. An older guy stopped by and started asking so many questions, like where I had learned how to paint, how long does it take to finish a painting, how much does each work cost, was my talent genetic, etc. Then he started imagining if I was living during the Renaissance with all the great talents, etc. Lol... He stopped by again after he had done his jogging, told me that he had five grandchildren, so I decided to p...