Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

We had a young girl sitter today who was wearing a red dress. She sat on a piece of greenish color cloth. I liked it, because I finally got to use some "left over" colors, expecially Veridian Green which I had a huge tube of for over twenty years and had only used a tiny squeeze of. Started sketching on a 16"x20" used panel, I painted in a more comtemporary color scheme by using Cadmium Red and Veridian Green together as complementary colors. I painted her full figure, just because I liked her black shoes. During each break, she studied with a pack of flash cards cards in her hands, seemed like she was in school and preparing exams. Three-hour sessions are never enough time for a portrait, so I went home to correct and add a few more details after. Happy with the result. (March 5 2024)

It was a rainy Saturday this Easter weekend.  I went to an evening live model session at Lynn's studio by chance that I found through Instagram, also it was very close where I live.   About 10 artists showed up, and one came all the way from Oakland on such a rainy weekend.  Painting and photography are unique arts. As we see in the work of old masters, great painting captures instead the outward molding of inner feeling that is truer to the individual than any momentary expression.  Because artist adds emotion into the painting it is unique to the individual.  Different color palettes, brushstrocks, or different perpectives to catch the likelness of the model.   Painting a model in realistic style isn't as important to me as capturing the essence of the model's expression.  I don't use a reference photo to copy a model, instead I use my eye and my hands to capture the expression from life, practise during the precious moments of the painting session. Of course, I use r

I thought I would paint a head portrait, but instead did a figurative study again on a used 16"x20" panel. Had to work on his legs more. Continued using my leftover Veridian Green.  Anyway the lighting system in the studio was cooler.   He was a very professional model, and we had him again for our evening short pose three-hour session.  He read a book instead of using his smart phone during each break, seems usual these days.   Pages of drawings I did,  and I was tired after two sessions total of six hours painting and drawing the same model. I was wondering if our sitter was exhausted too.  (March 19 2024)

A good model can inspire an artist to be creative and productive. Studying from a live model is always challenging. We were lucky to have very profession model Zoe being our sitter for two sections. The first week I did a full body study. Though I went to the studio half an hour early, most of the good seats were already taken. I grabbed the last middle one, so painted Zoe straight on. A week later, I brought my first figurative study back and correct a little bit. Then I worked on a 12"x16" portrait. Both sections I used pallet knives mostly and painted on used canvases.  The figurative one is 16"x20".  Nice of her that she posed herself next to our paintings in the end. Went back home and worked for hours correcting as the limited time wasn't allow me to do the details. For instance, her eyes looked more like she was meditating. And I added to my own interpretation into the portrait. Short pose drawing in the evening, Short pose drawings from our favorite ball

I went back to the studio working on live model study again after a long break. It felt challenging, especially the short poses. I couldn't finish one nude whole body sketch in two minutes. It was OK for the five-minute poses. The three-hour long pose wasn't enough time for figuring out the whole body structure. There was a very nice younger Korean female artist there that helped me a little bit during the break. Then I was able to push my work further. Added more hours at home painting till it looked fine basically. I don't think I should add too much time working on it, otherwise I won't able to paint my own work. (January 9 2024)

My third time coming to paint this Gothic Revival style church.  Once I painted it in the late afternoon.  Today I painted in the morning. There was a red SUV parked in front, but I had no idea when it had been switched to a white one. It was not a quite an intersection, cars and people were passing by, some of them on the bikes or other kinds of transports. I noticed that there was guy cleaning the front of the church, so I painted him into my work. (October 16 2023)

Planned to Plein Air in the morning, but there were some household things that interrupted that plan . It was about 4pm when I set up to paint at the Downtown Campbell Light Rail Station,  I've painted near this Light Rail Station several times over the past two years and have found it a very interesting place to paint from different angles in the morning or in the afternoon. For example just this red warehouse I painted from the other side in the morning on the last day of 2021.  This building had a "for sale" sign on it.  Today the sale sign still was on the fence, but the messiness I saw around before was all cleaned up.  It is unusual that a property could be on sale for so long in Silicon Valley. Many times I've told myself that I should not copy what I see exactly, so  today I slightly moved things around or implied things a little bit.  Slowly but surely I will get there for sure one day. There was a condominium behind where I was painting.  The residents had a

I didn't plan where to paint today until driving down the road, I thought it should not be more than 10 miles driving, but I missed the turn and had to u-turn a couple of times. I decided to paint at Niles in Fremont again. I was surprised that there was almost no traffic on #880, but the traffic started after I got on the Mission Road. I waited inside the car patiently, noticed it was 96 degrees outside. Felt the waiting time was much longer than the travel all the way here. Passing through the Mission San José, suddenly I remembered that I wanted to paint this gorgeous historic building each time I passed by, why not today? Got off the main road, parked my car, then saw a better shady spot and parked the car.  Walked to see where I could paint.  Then walked back to my car and re-parked near where I painted. It was really hot, I set up my station under an old pepper tree that gave me the most shade. It was almost 4 pm by then and I had to buy bread, the shop closed at 6pm. I did

Recently I discovered this beautiful park in Niles. So I planned to paint there until sunset. Gorgeous fall afternoon, but I hit intolerable traffic on the way even though I thought that it was before rush hour. It was almost 4 pm after I found a spot and set up my work station. The sketch part was super easy, not much detail, but relocated the trees a little bit. After that I was struggling work with color, which I usually don't need to worry about much. Just because that bald mountain was getting sienna color during sunsetting, and the reflection into the water.  I tried warm tone colors I carried with me, seemed that none of them worked well in this watercolor.  Maybe I really should work on a value study before laying down colors instantly. There were a couple of guys fishing on the deck.  One told me that he didn't even get a bite from a fish.  Felt we had the similar unexpected result at the same location, LOL... The traffic was not as slow on my return thank goodness. (

I thought I wanted to paint the church. Then I changed my mind after I saw the light and shadows on this building were so interesting. Found a shady spot under a tree off the street, set up my workstation, and spent a little bit more time sketching out the details. Wish I was an architect, could get all the perspective correct in the first pass but it took a little longer. A college boy walking by said "good morning" and startled me because I was so focused on my work. He was very polite though and apologized. Later when I was almost done the painting, a lady passing by and said "so beautiful" and scared me again. I guess I haven't been out in the public painting enough lately. She apologized too, and I told her no need to worry and we chatted a bit. She had an Australian Shepherd dog with the most beautiful eyes. She told me that her dog was super-smart and sweet. It was a nice day to enjoy the breeze and get out into the fall air. (September 27 2023)

My first time painting at this location.  A hot day, arrived a little early, but I realized that there wasn't any easy subject for me to paint. Did not want to waste the trip, so I dragged my painting gear and walked a while, then decided to paint from this angle.  Not enough variety of features to make the scene exciting but at least there were some white birds on the water. It was quite a annoying with so many bees buzzing around me.  I checked and cleaned up my paints in case they were attracting them.   After my painting was done and returned home, I started to wash my painting cloths.  Hopefully there won't be anything to attract insects next time. (August 28 2023)

I have been there a couple times before, but it was my first time painting at the location.  A gray day, drove on the winding highway 17 for about an hour, met up with several other artists at the parking lot of Natural Bridge State Beach. We found our own spots and started painting.  The spot I got was under eucalyptus tree branch, but at a higher level so I was able to see the Natural Bridge better. I asked a lady who carried a bucket, thought she was a fisherman.  But she told me that she picked up garbage on the beach as volunteer before her work.  So I drew her into my painting.  Later I saw another lady doing the same thing.  How wonderful! I removed my paints with honey medium already, as I'm not sure which paint attract honey bees. But I still got many bee visitors while I was painting. And a spider visitor too. Unfortunately, one of the artist got stung by a "yellow jacket". Seemed she was OK, moved to a new spot and painted another painting. I saw a eucalyptu

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

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

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)