Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Correcting a painting without a live model or a right referenced photo was not an easy thing to do.  Finally, I've pushed myself to get the position she looked in the photo, but not the original painting I did from live.  All the photos I took from outdoors and indoors.  My color palette wasn't too bright, nor too duo.  Today is the International Women's Day on the East of the Global, tomorrow all the women on the west will celebrate the day I hope.  And I decided to stop paint this one, because  it was just a studio study, it was not necessary to finish perfectly.   (March 7 2023) One 3-hour session to paint the figurative work last Tuesday, I did not touch it after. Instead waited for this afternoon to continue or finish it. Might be the expectation, I had such a tough time to work on this portraiture. First, the model didn't pose in exactly the same position, especially her legs and feet. And also I was stubborn and wanted to change or repaint her legs or feet, thou

Took a break and didn't go to the studio yesterday, I felt relaxed a little bit. The rain finally stopped, and it was clear but windy.  Drove to the Half Moon Bay Nursery but missed it because there are many other similar nurseries on the same road.  Got out of  the car to ask a guy working inside, and wanted to use the restroom.  The guy told me the directions nicely.   Got there and found a doorway to set up my painting stuff, so I could paint inside because it was quite windy outside.  I liked the way I could see the outside greenhouses in a row, and there was a single tool laying against an empty table.  A guy working for the nursery wanted to remove the tool, but he changed his mind after he saw the tool was in my painting. Took me three hours to paint this one, after all I always think that I should do another one, but I felt tired.  On the way back, I saw the snow was still on top of the mountains, snap shots for memory.   (March 1 2023)

Missed the long pose live model study on Tuesday, so I went to the studio Thursday.  Got caught in traffic again, there was almost a full house of artists waiting for the model.  My first time painting this model, even though I was a little late I got a lucky spot, and I liked her pose.  A professional model too. After over a year of live model studies, I have come to a major  discovery.  I used too measure carefully instead of using my eyes to understand dimensionality in my drawings and portraiture works.  This time I used my objective feeling and exaggerated some features to get dimension, didn't measure everything exactly. I paid more attention to follow my instant feeling of her body instead of measuring.  Only one 3-hour session, I think I have done better using this approach.  Next step I should continue to work on my objective understanding of the subject and after that my style. I was so glad that I went to the studio, not so much for the  improvement in the painting, but

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)

It was a beautiful and warm day, first time I drove to this amazing Sikh Gurdwara in San Jose up in the middle of the hills after passing downtown San Jose.  From Google Search: The Sikh Gurdwara of San Jose is a gurdwara located in the Evergreen district of San Jose, California. It was founded in 1984 by leaders of the then-rapidly growing community of Sikhs in the area. It is the largest Gurdwara in the world outside of India. I could spot the domes through the trees on my way up the hill, the Gurdwara is nestled in the hills and I  really wanted to stop along the roadside to paint it from a distance, but I kept driving up to the location. When I arrived, I saw three generations of families in traditional dress, woman wearing beautiful saris and men wearing turbans together with their children.  While I was there, I walked around and got to say "hi" to some new and old artist friends.  I found a nice spot to the side and started working.  Took a long time to finish because

My last Plein Air painting in Half Moon Bay was done in July last year.  I remember it was such a cold day.  Today I caught only light traffic and little road work on the way.   It was a gorgeous day, hills turned green, and flowers started blooming after days of rain.  I was looking for the Giusti farm in Half Moon Bay CA without knowing the address.  Luckily, I found it by noticing other artists painting along the High Way #1, only had one extra turn.  There were acres of mustard flowers in the fields and up to the hills. Some were lemon yellow, some already had turned to Indian yellow.  They were more attractive contrasted with the fresh spring green grasses in between.   Usually start with a small sketch, not this time since I was a little bit behind schedule.  I reminded myself that I should focus on the main subject to paint.  It didn't take too long, and I was happy with the result.   Very nice to see some old and new artists painting as well.   (February 8 2023)

Arrived 30 minutes earlier at the studio, because the model is one of my favorites. Our model she is African and Irish mixed. Today she wore a long white silk gown which contrasted her skin, very beautiful. But I didn't get the spot where I wanted to paint. She looked exactly straight to me, and her hands and feet were all together in the middle. Depends on my years of Plein Air experience, I know I must make decision quickly. Almost the same moment she moved her hand to touch her face, I captured the moment, so I could had a reference photo to paint while her two hands were positioned one horizontal, and one vertical. I already had done two portraits of her before, both were 12"x16". Today I worked on a new colored panel 16"x20". During the work, I noticed that her gown was quite challenging to paint, because of the white silky and reflective material. So I just focused on her whole shape, and used my left over color palette. Three hours was too shor

Because of the Chinese Lunar New Year, I didn't go painting last week. Cleaning up was the major activity, got ready for the New Year.   Rain finally stopped, and the news said that there was enough water restored in our area. I only had one three-hour session for the long pose model in the afternoon. Working on an used 16"x20" canvas panel, quickly sketched, than started to put colors on. Even I have been practicing over a year, still certain proportions were not right after the session was finished. I know the challenging part is the correction.  Spent extra 6 hours to correct it after. In the evening, we had this African American female model back.  She is pretty and tall.  Each of her poses was nice, but I never could fit her onto my paper.  Just might be that she was very tall, and I was not used to it.  Of course I didn't expect I could draw figures super well, maybe someday soon.  One thing I have no doubt that practicing helps me to get work done bette

After weeks of rain, our weather is getting warmer and clear, spring is on the way.  Very happy to start my first Plein Air of the Year. I didn't set up my spot, just thought to follow whatever caught my eye. Didn't drive too far, and I couldn't help myself to stop at the orchard next to the Campbell Seventh-day Adventist Church.  I just love this unique place.  It's hard to believe that it still hasn't been developed into a new condos.   Felt warm in the sun.  Set up my equipment, looked through the chicken wire fences, and started with a small sketch on a pad, then on my regular Fabriano Artistico 140 lb Cold Press watercolor paper.  I decided to "relocate" the truck for a new layout. During the painting, a truck stopped in front of my view.  A young guy started taking photos.  Being a Plein Air painter, you must make decisions quickly depending on the situation when unexpected things happen.  So I decided to let him know that he blocked what I was work

I planned to continue my last week's portrait study of this model. Arrived at the studio, I saw the profile of the model from a different angle, and then decided to paint a new 12"x16" portrait study. Tried to paint her hand as well. Used some leftover paints from my last week's pallet. I rushed everything so I could do in one three-hour session. (January 10 2023) I thought that I'd just retouch a little bit, but ended up spending 6 hours working on the same painting, and I didn't even want to paint her hand anymore. The challenging and the life-learning parts of painting is knowing when to stop, because it has no undo button, lol... ( Updated on January 20 2023. Both are the same image, the 1st one was taken outdoors, and 2nd one was an indoor image) Evening we had the same model again for short poses. Ten or twenty minute poses were fine, but I still had hard time to draw her in less than five minutes. Drawing is really a daily study/progression I can real

I really needed a break from online social media, including my blog.  I didn't do much during the holiday season, besides seeing museums based in Los Angeles in Southern California.  It was called our "vacation" before the Christmas in 2022, since we didn't travel like most of people in past three plus years, only went to Boise last summer to meet my brother-in-law there.   Weather was warmer than our location in the Bay Area, especially during the day time.  The food was delicious, traffic was as expected.   The most exciting part of our trip was seeing about hundred of dolphins swimming and jumping around the boat when we were on the way to the Channel Island National Park.  But the hiking was super-challenging, we could not reach Pelican Beach in time. Getty Villa and Getty Center were both must-see museums with enormous collections.  Norton Simon is always one of my favorites.  Saw the special exhibition of "Picasso Ingres - Face to Face" there. There wa

I changed my mind and wanted to correct my portraiture study a little bit from the week before. Went to the studio and set up my stuff, even asked another artist to move so I could be in the same spot I painted before. Then I realized that I didn't bring the work with me. Not only me though, one artist forgot to bring her brushes. Another artist forgot to bring her phone, borrowed mine for a photo reference. Lol... I had to start another new one 12"x16". I liked the fresh look of the paints on the new white panel, no need to worry that the painting would dry darker or highlights not be strong enough. The artist who borrowed my phone to take photos, gave me a really helpful suggestion. I didn't think painting her cloths was necessary at the end. That was after a three hour session.   After a one hour break having dinner snack with an artist friend in the car, we started to draw the short pose model.  She was a little bit late.  During the minutes drawings, found sh

After a whole week of Plein Air painting at Capitola and exhibition sales, only had Monday for managing home and personal stuff. Rained a lot, it was necessary for California. We had Courtney as our long pose.  She arrived a little earlier,  dressed up very trendy with make-up, she looked very pretty in black and red outfit, including her bag. I designed the painting on a16"x20" used panel.  She was a good model, and got back to the correct position after each break.   I painted loosely the whole the whole figure, including her bag.  Three hours gone, time was up, and I realized that I painted her head a little bigger than it should be.  Then I decided not changing anything, just because my original brushes and design fit her funky style.  May do a new one next week. Evening we had a new model Allen.  His short poses were very good, and his body shape seemed perfectly built for modelling.  Wish he could be our long pose model someday. (November 8 2022)

Same painting: left indoor and right outdoor. In the early afternoon when we were waiting for our model to arrive at the studio, several artists chatted together. I told them that I would love to have a regular person be our model rather than a professional one, I could feel a more personal message from the face expression, and therefore more interesting to paint for a portrait. One or two agreed with me. Then we got our model's message that she just had a car accident,  wasn't able to be here. Hope she was OK. One of the artists volunteered to be our long pose model, so we started painting. Not sure if I should have said what I did about painting regular people, but this artist was a good model. She stayed still, and her face's expression really was more interesting to me. By using palette knife, I worked on a used panel 12"x16". Everything worked out smoothly, and First time I was done when the time was up. Being a visual artist working in the studio or

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