Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Monday morning, it seemed that a little quiet in downtown Pleasanton. Before, I went to Harrington Gallery to pick up my exhibited painting. I did a quick Plein Air work at this historic and popular Ice cream store called Meadowlark Dairy. Each time there were many people in the queue waiting to buy ice cream. I tried it a couple of times, it's pretty good. I did a Plein Air painting of this store three years ago, painted the whole building, and from a different angle. Back then there were no umbrellas decorating the store. And of course I added more people in my painting this time from my memory. (June 12 2023)

Believe or not, I was so excited to go and paint at the Half Moon Bay Nursery this morning. Not only because I am a plant lover and love gardening work, but also it is my first time ever to get in. So many times I wanted to stop while passing by, always thought that would be next time over at least a decade. A gorgeous day, it was warmer actually, and I overdressed. Morning light was gorgeous. Forgot my long-term allergies, I didn't feel anything beside a little hot, not even a sneeze during my painting there about two hours even with all of the flowers. Workers were busy fixing the nursery, serving the customers and moving plants. So many beautiful and varieties at the store, I wondered why there were so many shoppers in and out during the weekday morning. (October 27 2021)

A few sketches I did when traveling on the train in Spain weeks ago. I really enjoyed people watching there, wish everyone could be my model. Today I planned to paint at the San Mateo Memorial Park. My car GPS didn't give the location, I only could follow Google maps, started all in red on the high way 280. Turned on the route 84, everything looked so beautiful through the dappled sunlight, especially all the tall redwoods. I enjoyed driving on the winding roads, thought that my driving skill has definitely improved since I had started doing Plein Air. An accidentally-killed dead deer's half body was left on the roadside. Inside the mountains, Google maps asked to make U turns a couple times, I knew I hadn't arrived, didn't follow. It was my first time to be at this location and I finally arrived to a sign announcing that the park was closed due to a high fire situation. Bummer... Of course it was reasonable since the Sonoma big fire hasn't been put down yet.