Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

John is one of the popular models in the San Francisco Bay Area, all the artists draw or paint him so many times.  Interestingly, I missed so many times to paint him.  Finally I didn't want to miss this afternoon's opportunity.   It wasn't easy to start his portrait. I had a higher expectations for myself after I saw many beautiful drawings or portrait work from great artists nearby.  Or maybe it was my first live model with beer or bald head.  I corrected my basic drawings more than usual, each time I lightened the color, then it turned out the portrait itself looked too creamy after this one 3-hour session done, and the proportion wasn't good either.  My husband said it looks fine, but please understand why I decided not to post it. In the evening we had a new good model, her poses were beautiful.  And she always asked if we like her standing or sitting down.  Ended up too many positions where she was standing. (February 21 2023)

A formal ballerina was our long post live model today.  She brought a three sit chair with her and her point shoes on her feet.  I was a little bit earlier, but it was hard to get a good painting spot.  Her position was lying down, very beautiful and elegant, but difficult.  Painting through with struggle for the form and corrected the figure through, three hours wasn't long enough.  Not sure I should continue to correct this one, or start over again next session. (June 16 2022)

Learned from previous sessions, I brought two canvas panels to the art center, one was 12"x16", the other was 16"x20". After a short hesitation, I chose the smaller size. Matt was a new model for me, he looked like an American Indian, I guessed but didn't ask. Interesting lighting on his body, I barely saw his face, almost completely dark from the angle I painted. I do not usually paint so small, don't even have the smallest brushes.  I could not manage to have his whole body fit on the canvas, otherwise I would have a difficult time to paint it without smaller brushes. He is a good model, but I am not sure if I will attend the second session next week. Usually the pose of the model and lighting are never quite the same.  ( June 2 2022)

April 5 happened to be Tomb Sweeping Day on the Chinese Calendar. In our culture, people usually go to visit their ancestors' tomb with flowers and clean off the dust. No one can get visas to travel home, and our visas were no longer valid in China because of COVID 19. I haven't visited my in family almost three years. I decided to paint at Hakone Gardens Japanese Garden in Saratoga.  There were many cars already parked at the entry to the place next to the Big Basin Way.  Quickly I parked my car at the last available space, because there was limited parking near by the entrance. My instinct was right, but I had to roll my painting stuff up the hill to the entrance.  My legs felt sore and I felt short of breath for walking up there with all my painting stuff.  There were so many people, more than 95% of them were Asian, I guessed that it was free day, and many people could not go to sweep their ancestors' tombs.  Not sure how my ancestors thought about me and rest of overse

We painted our favorite model Grace outdoors today. It was warm in the morning, she was dressed up and cover up like traveling back in the centuries. Less than 3 hours, I painted as fast I could, my work station fell down, my brush, oil media and terpenoid were all over the ground. I knew that our painting time was limited, so I picked up the brushes, continued to paint the impressionist style in duotone It was a good study! (March 30 2022)

Painted two session of the male live mode on a panel 16"x20", felt too small to work on. The second session spent most of time to correct the light and model position, because it couldn't be the same. This is another study of figure and duotone, I won't able to finish it.(March 10 & 17 2022)

Haven't painted outdoors as often as I used to do, instead spent a lot of time working on figurative painting in studio. Today I decided only drive10 miles to find a spot to paint, that way I could save a little more time instead of driving on the road. It was another factory I planned to paint for a long time. Parked my car in an apartment building next to the 7-eleven, though it wasn't a quiet spot. Many trucks drove by, airplanes flew ahead, pollution was in the air. I didn't even remember to bring my mask... After a while, I started to think positively how lucky I was to be here to paint.  Some people in other countries have to suffer from a war, they must be terrified...(February 25 2022 )

Just realized that I hadn't gone out painting for a week this morning - too much figurative study in studio. Also my annual allergies have started acting up again. Didn't go too far. I found this greenhouse tent a long time ago and today I got to paint it. After my stuff was set up, I saw two older ladies walking toward me, and the language they were speaking sounded like Russian. I said "Hello" and asked them if they were Russian. They responded that yes they were. Their faces were so interesting, instantly I thought they both could be our portrait models. I dug out my business card and passed it to one of the ladies, and told them that we could pay them if they wanted to be our models. I didn't really understand what she said, but she mentioned her daughter and her hands gestured throwing the business card away. Hahaha, I hope she does contact me and they can be models for us. I really only mean to paint their portraits. (February 18 2022)

Today was a lovely day, especially outdoors, there was no wind and it was gorgeous weather. Met friends and painted together at this nice location. Beautiful yellow mustard plants were already blooming, apricot trees didn't even have buds or leaves. We could see a church in the distance, and we all used our hatchback doors as umbrellas to make shade for painting. The church bell rang once an hour, the peacefulness made me wonder if I were in the countryside somewhere in Europe. Hahaha, miss travelling a lot...(February 10 2022)

It is a good time for me to slow down a little bit. Cleaning up my studio, at the same time reorganizing my physical work area and myself mentally as well. I stacked my Plein Air watercolor works together (some of them were painted both sides) since I started my outdoor painting journey about two and a half years ago. These don't include about 100 oil outdoor paintings, a couple of sketch books with drawings, still-life, figure and portrait studies, some have been mated or framed or are exhibiting now, and some works sold...