Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

We always have an "Indian Summer" and it has been hot days for weeks. I decided to go to the Port because there was a subject I wanted to paint at the same spot, but from a different angle. I set up my work station and started on the drawing, which took me a little longer to finish. Because I wanted to try a different color palette, I hesitated to start. Also, there was only one boat next to the dock when I was here before, but many were parked there this morning. I have been thinking to use fewer colors for a long time, my first time to give it a try. The result seemed OK, better than I expected. Basically I wanted to focus on the value of the scene. It was getting windy around noon, and I finished up my work and packed up. Walked a bit around the port and discovered more subjects to paint. I will be back again for sure. (August 16 2023)

Nice morning, but it was grey and hot on location. It was my second time coming here to paint the Hayes Mansion.  It is a historic location but now it is Hilton Hotel. I found a spot on the patio and painted the view from that perspective. The angle I tried to paint was not easy to capture, especially on a grey day, because the light and shadow wasn't clear. Luckily, the, sun came out around noon, so I got a chance to correct my work a little bit. Later, I saw several old friends who were also Plein Air artists and we chatted.  They gave me some good feedback. (August 14 2023)

It was a nice day, and I painted with local artists at the location. I set up my workstation near a cabin where a summer camp employee was watching over the lake to keep the boaters safe. I used the cabin's shade to paint comfortably. The place was busy with many kids attending the summer camp, and they all seemed happy. I noticed some teenagers working there, not much older than the kids having fun. I overheard a seventeen-year-old boy telling others that he was going to join the Navy program for college. The others looked at him with envy and admiration. The boys in charge were young but behaved like adults, helping the kids enjoy sailing and giving them snacks. After finishing my painting, I walked around to see other artists' work. To my surprise, I saw Will painting there. I went to say Hi. I had met him last May during the Plein Air event in Carmel. He was nice and kind and encouraging of my work. He helped two other artists by making little corrections for them.  He spen

It was a nice day, but quite windy at the shore. Fortunately, I found a big tree to block the wind, and it worked very well. As I painted, a lady with her very sweet ten-year-old dog passed by and said Hi. The dog was friendly and didn't want to leave. I really wanted to pet her dog, but I knew that some paints are not good for animals and I had my rubber gloves on. So, I stopped and just watched them while chatting with the lady. After finishing the drawing, I hesitated on where to start with my work on the boats. Feeling a bit stuck, I decided to change to a bigger brush and covered the small details, then worked backwards to find the detail again. It looked better than when I started. As the wind grew stronger, it was time to go home. Last year, before the Alameda Plein Air Event, I painted at the Port of Redwood City. Unfortunately, I missed the application deadline this year, so I won't be able to attend it. (July 27, 2023)

Before embarking on Plein Air painting, I had the opportunity to witness several artists creating their masterpieces outdoors during the summer of 2017. This experience sparked a strong desire within me to someday capture the essence of this unique architecture through my own artwork. Years later, I finally found myself at the desired location, ready to set up my work station on a scorching morning. It was no easy task finding a suitable spot due to the obstructing trees blocking my view. Without sketching a preliminary outline, I faced the challenge of depicting the intricate details of the building. To make matters more interesting, there were workers painting the adjacent structure. Aware of the limited time available, I knew I had to complete my work as swiftly as possible. After struggling momentarily with the initial sketch, I swiftly applied watercolors while standing in the middle of a narrow lane. A kind local lady informed me that Mondays tended to be quiet, and she didn'

Our summer starts late than in most locations, but it finally has arrived.  It was almost 90 F degrees, seemed that it was a perfect day went to beach and paint with friends to get my motivation back. I checked the weather report, but it never tells the right coastal weather condition.  It showed only 57 F degrees when I drove to Santa Cruz.  I hesitated but knew I should continue.  I didn't want to come out of my car after I arrived. There were a local store next to the Cabrillo Highway near the Panther Beach.  I pulled over because I wanted to use the restroom.  Not surprised that I had to buy something before I got the key.  Checked out the store, mostly vegetables and fruits that were quite costly, some of them from local and looked fresh.  I bought a large beet with leaves on it.   I was told that I was not allowed to park in front of the store, than I moved my car to park cross the High Way #1.   Didn't see my artist friends yet, I decided to walk to the beach to check wh

I didn't want to miss another nice day, and went back to the same place where I painted last week. But I moved the position of the scene a little further away so I was able to paint the pink building of the Carmelite Monastery, and the super-blooming oleanders. After setting up my work gear, I saw the red truck parking at the same spot I had missed to paint last week. I really had a moment and wanted to paint it again. I saw a senior guy pass by pulling a wagon when I started on my work. Hours later he came back again with his wagon almost full and asked if he could have a peak at my work. Of course I told him, and we introduced ourselves to one and other.  His name was Hall, and he lived nearby. Shopping with a wagon, what a great idea and healthy way to go about it. (June 29 2023)

I was attracted by the red truck and the bougainvillea flowers hanging on the wall, the color combination matched well at the parking lot of the adult school. Found a shady spot and started to draw a small sketch first. It was a lovely afternoon. Didn't check the weather carefully, and I forgot that it isn't easy to paint outdoors when it is windy. A lady was passing by, and told me that there was a painting class if I wanted to learn. She must be a passionate educator I thought. And she said that an art instructor taught two classes, one in watercolor, the other one was acrylic. I told her that I would love to pass the info if anyone I know would like to learn. But I didn't mentioned that I would write it in my blog. Because there are hundreds of visitors that visit my blog daily. Another thing I should know better after years' outdoor painting experience, is that I should paint unpredictable subjects that can move without notice, like the truck LOL...(June 20

It was a pleasant day, I went to Villa Montalvo and did a Plein Air painting. Focused on the statues and was inspired by the curvilinear nature of the beautiful landscape, and tried to avoid painting a lot of the trees in the background to create this painting. Years of painting experience has taught me that I worked too hard on the areas that were not my strengths. Being artists, we should focus on freedom of expression to create what inspires us using our strengths. LOL, it is not too late to learn... (June 15 2023)x

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)

It has been unusually cold and rainy the past few days here. Decided to do a first Plein Air work in the month May. My first time visiting this historic park.  Only saw a few people, might be because of the cold and gray morning.  Found a spot and started my work.   I had to put an extra jacket on, and my work took a longer time to be dry enough for putting on the second and third layers.   Not the best work I've done, but it is a good start for the month. (May 10 2023) Or join me at: FaceBook , Instagram , Twitter , Pinterest

Went to the beautiful Sikh Gurdwara located in South San Jose. My second time going there, not for Plein Air, this time I wanted to try drawing people indoors. The kitchen opened and served food when I arrived. I wore my black hat with a scarf over my head and shoulders.  Found a carpet to sit down on, where I could a better view of other people, mostly Indian I think.   I haven't practiced drawing people with clothes on for a long time, had noticed that Indian clothes were harder for me to draw since I never wear them, have no clue how everything connects on the body. And drawing professional models no matter for 2 minutes, 5 minutes or longer, they are trained not move.  But those people came to kitchen for food and socializing.  They moved their the hands, bodies, heads all the time, and never stop.   I had to draw them by memorizing.  Lucky I brought my favorite brush pen, it helped me draw better after I found it in my bag. A guy came out of kitchen and asked me what I was d

I will continue my drawing studies but consolidate into one post each month from now on.  So I will add the dates for each study. (May 9 2023) Tuesday night again, our model was several minutes late. She immediately got ready and started from the two minutes pose.  I had a difficult time to draw her, and kept changing my pencils and charcoals.  I know the papers I use are too smooth.  After a while I found my favorite charcoals, instantly I could draw better. Haha, tools are very important! From her stable poses I could tell she was an experienced model. I had her long pose portraiture study before.  I don't think I remember the models' name, but I remember each face for sure.

It was Easter Friday. We rented a studio behind the Triton Museum of Art. More than ten artists, most of us live nearby, some of them drove from Sacramento and Northern Beach (north of Marin county). We were all ready, waiting for our model who came from San Francisco, an hour drive away. We got started at 11 o'clock. Ended up it worked out for two sessions, because the lunch break was cut by a half an hour, and extended to another half hour long. Nice studio, quite spacious. I started with a used canvas panel 16"x20", actually I sanded my last week's model study off. I noticed that I didn't have enough space for continuing my work after the first break, then I wiped it off, restarted it again. Our model was not very stable, so it was challenging for us to settle down our sketches and continue on with our work. We all painted quietly, only could hear the sound of brushes moving up and down on canvas. One of the artists brought a half bag of mandarins from her tree

We are lucky to have a program that allow us practice on live figures in the studio.  I have been working on drawing and painting from live models for a year and a half now.  Found out that good models are very important to artists when studying them live.   Tonight we had a new model, she was introduced as working towards her graduation at Stanford University.  What a smart student and working hard too.  Also she is a good model, deserved generous tips. Short pose drawings are challenging, never feel that you have enough time to draw one properly. Actually it really depends on the artist, how many years experience of the drawing skill, what the artist wants to experiment with etc.  Some of artists now draw on an electric device like iPad for digital drawing.  To me after I stopped working as a graphic designer, I don't have much interest in working on computer any more, because I feel I have had enough.  I really enjoy working with traditional drawing and painting tools, like cha

Drove to the studio during rush hour, and surprisingly there was no traffic jam on #101. Many new faces there. One thing I am sure of is that they were much younger than me. Allan was a wonderful model, though I don't get enough practice drawing male figures. I did OK, and the younger artists gave me complements, or some of them gave me a look that told me I did well. All I know is how long I have been struggling on drawing short poses, and I have been practicing for over a year and half now. To all the younger age artists, they have plenty time to catch up in their skills. (April 11 2023)

I haven't done a figure study for a while. Went to studio earlier to get a better seat.   Might be the model was too directly in front of me, and it wasn't easy to adjust her legs crossing each other. Not happy with the result after one three-hour session, I am not going back to correct my work next session, because I know that I should practice more.  (March 30 2023) Also I haven't practiced figure drawings. Glad that I went to draw from the live model.  Not only she was a good one, but I know I need to work on m anatomy to understand the human body better. (April 4 2023)

Pretty happy that my Plein Air watercolor painting "Coastal Bungalow" was accepted for the 11th Annual Fresh Works Juried Exhibition.  Dropped off my work at the Harrington Gallery Firehouse Arts Center in Pleasanton, and drove to Alviso Adobe Community Park.  My husband found this place online last night, because I was looking for a place to paint on the delivery painting day. Excited because it is a totally new painting spot for me.  After parking my car and dragging my painting gear to the Adobe House, I instantly tried taking photos for painting ideas.  A guy came out of the house and told me that kids are not allowed to be in the photos by their parents.  Then I noticed that many children were having on site class, I guessed.  I showed him a couple of the photos I just took, after enlarged the images, there were a couple of blurry dots in the  distance, from the clothing colors could tell that the mini-dots were humans.  He did his job and told me those were OK. I set up

There were many rainy days this spring, Gave me lots of good excuses to not paint outdoors and instead use the home studio.  Thought it would be a good day to paint out with other artists, but it was gray and cold all the time there until we were leaving.  Because it was cold, the watercolor paper wouldn't dry fast enough to paint on. Saw people started hiking, caught up with several other artists.  Retouched the painting at home, added a figure, can you see him?☝️ (March 20 2023)

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