Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Good news to share for the coming up holidays, my figurative oil painting "Diary of Venus" won the 1st place in oil, juried by Pancho Jimenez at Great Bay Area Open (GBAO) "Potentiality/Actuality" biennial exhibition in the NUMU museum Los Gatos. There are many great works created by Bay Area based artists and the exhibition is open to the public at NUMU museum in Los Gatos until March 9 2024. I took a break from painting outdoors after Capitola Plein Air event. Of course I still paint at my home studio. Gorgeous day here in winter, it looked like fall. Though it was only 59 degrees, I felt warm in the sun. All foliage showing autumn leaf colors like yellow, orange, red, purple, and brown, which contrasted the blue sky and other plants of green were everywhere. It was great to go out and paint a day before the rainy season starts. Drove to Sunnyvale and the Heritage Park Orchard jumped into my mind. I think it is always inspiring when I drive on streets named af

Went to the Sunnyvale Heritage Park orchard, it is always fun to drive through the local streets, those are named with some of the greatest visual artists and musicians in  history. Robbia, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Manet, Monet, Matisse, Picasso, Rousseau, Sargent, Romberg; Mozart, Choppin, Puccini, Offenbach, etc.. What a great way to be inspired and review history. Two years ago I painted here, while the workers were drying apricots. It looked like they were working on the apricots today. And I found out the barn was more appealing today after reading the sign on the wall: " The Bianchi Bros. barn was constructed circa 1918 on Capitol Ave and Hostetter Road in San Jose and has been in continuous use since that time. It is a good example of the classic American barn with its unpretentious vernacular architecture. Barns are one of a rare handful of symbols that immediately evoke our national heritage and their honesty provides a strong regional identity to our agricultural p

Silicon valley is famous for high tech and multi-cultural for sure. It was only 37 degrees in the morning, I really didn't want to go out. After a short hesitation, I drove to the location again, not far from where I live. There are many streets named after the greatest masters near the orchard. I turned into Manet Dr, turned to Michelangelo Dr, passed by Rembrandt, Picasso, Matisse, Sargent, Chopin, etc... I wonder why and who decided to name all the streets? Anyway, felt instantly inspired and started my painting. To me, the process of creating art is my meditation. Following my feeling and inner visual voice are more important queues than painting what is exactly in front of my eyes. So I concentrated on my work... "Your painting looks nice!". I jumped and almost screamed, an Indian lady wearing a Sari behind me said so, and I scared her away. Than we apologized to each other, started laughing... Later, a softer voice in a Japanese accent , "Do you come here to

Super foggy morning usually means a nice sunny day here. All the apricot trees are blooming yet, only started having buds. Seeing tree branches in winter is one of my favorite things, believe it or not. Even better to paint them here. My half-year allergy just started recently. Yesterday saw Tim Saternow's demo. Planned to try some tips he shared with us. But my own painting habit was not easy to break. Will remember to try next time...

The Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum is adjacent to the 10 acre Orchard Heritage Park where about 800 trees were laden with ripe delicious Blenheim apricots. I didn't know this lovely place until today. Seemed that there was a big harvest of apricots, there were a couple workers delivered buckets of apricots to the those were making dry apricot fruit by hands. It was very interesting watching the process while I was painting in the middle of Silicon Valley, hard to believe certain people still working in very traditional way here, like me in this high tech area. I must come back and paint again.

Napa Valley is considered one of the premier wine regions in the world, with hundreds of vineyards set amid rolling hills. I have been there many times, but not every time I could capture the scenes I love, sometimes I was in a rush, other time the weather or lighting wasn't right. Just like wine tasting, not each time you could experience the most delicious taste. Autumn is always my favorite season. It is still warm, colorful everywhere with harvest, and I usually can get the most of inspiration. Once I saw a perfect wine country scenery just in perfect timing during autumn in Napa, but I forgot to charge the battery in my camera. I guess it is one of the reasons I have to go back. Ha ha ha... It wasn't easy for agriculture in California since it hasn't rained enough for years. I saw colors are different this year through the incredible scenery, the layering of lines and patterns in the valley. It had built up more ochre yellow all over, especially in those war

That was one of my favorite trips in Peru, though it was too short. I love Peruvian culture and people. Their unique architecture, beautifully designed traditional textiles... So much to learn and appreciate. Next one I will post photos I captured from one of the most famous ancient landmarks - Machu Picchu, I feel proud just having been there... This piece memorializes a moment from one of my travel experiences. Although we only spent a few days in Cusco, Peru before we headed to Machu Picchu , my impression remains vivid - the expression of this little girl whose mother carried her without complaint up and down the endless uneven steps in this beautiful but ancient city built of millions of stones, and thousands of steps... At the altitude it was hard enough to even breath let alone carry the extra weight of this child who was 4-5 year's-old, not a young baby. Her curious glance captured my attention and I was so touched by the mother and daughter' s relationship and their de

This title was inspired by a Beatles' song. I was introduced to many Beatles songs since I came. This is one of them inspired me, so I had decided to create a piece where this song guides me... Here is the link of The Beatles - All My Loving ( Close Your Eyes ):   http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gWvurnpKjE4 Living in California for twelve years now. Eleven years ago, I started painting, but seldom felt desire to paint the scenery where I live. Not long ago, I made a decision that I had to make myself feel happy about living here, accept it and being accepted. Two Weeks ago, I was so stuck by this piece I was creating, I painted over and over again... it was about 11pm at Friday night, I didn't even want to eat my dinner, still searching for idea how to create this piece to express my own feeling about the half-surreal, California scene in summer. Suddenly, I received an email from a FAA member.  It was the first time she emailed and asked me if I was looking for inspir

Wine tasting is always an excitement for my husband, so he signed up for one with his company. Any alcohol makes me feel extremely thirsty, I am not as huge a fan as him, so, it is not a big deal to me.  I'd rather enjoy and always am inspired by nature!  It was only Wednesday, usually he works long hours. But today's event made both us in a very light mood. Byington is a family-owned winery, located in the Santa Cruz Mountains in the South Bay, California, only about 30 minutes drive from Silicon Valley where we live, if there is no traffic. There are 95-acres of estate owned by the Byington family, and it is the home of their Italian-style chateau winery and vineyard operation. While my husband enjoyed the wine tasting with his co-workers, I had a tranquil moment walking up the rolling hills between the rows of grapes and taking footage by myself, far away from the noise and busy life. What a perfect day in autumn visiting a winery, with a wonderful dry