Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

2020 Day5 Tried to create another one for the upcoming Lunar New Year - Year of the Rat. Just a watercolor wash. Still thinking, will continue trying a couple more ideas...

2020 Day4 We bought this simple coffee espresso maker at least fifteen years ago. I painted it, because I was inspired by Keiko Tanabe' s demo a couple of months ago at our location. Her source was a local car wash, had the misty atmosphere which she recreated. It was a great idea! And finally I did this watercolor sketch by seeing my husband making coffee where the steam came out around the cup, which he bought recently from Starbucks Christmas sale. Just because he loved the cup had fox painted on it and it made him happy. I can not drink coffee nor tea, I mean the good quality ones. I tried thousands of times and ended up to just upset my stomach. Because I couldn't stand the tempting smells, had to experience the taste since I was young. Strong flavor or light fragrant coffee, green tea or black, you name them... Getting older, married to a guy who cannot live cannot coffee nor tea every day. He has to have them all super-strong too.

2020 Day3 I thought I should create a piece for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year - Year of the Rat by the auspicious symbols in our culture. I just don't want to copy the stuff I have. Spent hours in the afternoon, but the painting looked like this... I tried to think positively how I could improve the painting. Any suggestions?

2020 Day2 Have you been to the Red Barn at Stanford? Do you know it was a horse farm that produced champion racehorses before Stanford became a world class university? My first time visiting and painting at the location. It was a beautiful day, I brought a very young Chinese artist friend with me. We met at a watercolor event in Shanghai where she was from last year. She came to visit her relatives in Silicon Valley. She told me that it was her first time being so close to real horses. The barns were very clean and well-organized, and the horses were gentle and well trained. I painted one landscape, she did a couple of sketches. I took a selfie with a super cooperated horse, seemed that she really enjoyed posing, lol... We learned that now the Stanford Red Barn is home to the Stanford Equestrian Team, the Stanford Red Barn Equestrian Center, and their affiliated programs. Definitely I will be back to paint again for sure.

A gorgeous sunny warm day after the rains. First time at this location. I love plants, and it was not easy to me to start painting. Had to remind myself many times that I was here to paint, not shopping for plants. Then I decided to paint this large blue pot with a 'natives" sign inside the pot. Love this blue color, and all the native plants surrounding it. Didn't remember any of those names... Do you love plants?

Rainy day I didn't get up as early as usual. Checked my messages in bed, an artist invited me to Plein Air together. Weather report showed there was no rain between 10am and 3pm. I jumped out of bed, had a simple, quick breakfast and drove to the location. Paid $6 for parking just to save time. Usually I'd rather park in the street and walk into the park. Unfortunately I forgot my tripod, funny thing I thought about to leave an extra tripod in my car last night, but I didn't... I used my car trunk as a temporary table to work on the painting. Beautiful sunlight. There were colorful fall leaves on the trees and on the ground. Didn't prepare for the rain, soon it started raining. I tried to continue, but the rain fell down heavily. Well, I had to leave the park, not get enough time to justify the parking fee, but luckily I parked inside the park, otherwise I would have been soaked, lol...

🌲Happy Holidays聖誕快樂! "Never let somebody's drama determine the outcome of your day." - Unknown What a drama! I wanted to paint the factory nearby the Intel Campus for a long time. I sold another painting "Santa Cruz Light House", planned to meet my client at noon. It seemed like a perfect combination as both activities were nearby one and other. Drove three times around the factory, couldn't find a good spot, but the white plumes came out from the chimney flying into the cold wind looked super cool, and it inspired me to paint on such a cold morning. I saw a business door was opened, walked in and asked if it was OK to use the restroom. A guy and a woman working there told me that there was a sign "No public restroom". I overlooked it of course and so I went to elsewhere, no big deal. Ended up I found a shady spot next to a parked car next to the fence, and started my work. I heard a loud female voice yelling and I turned around, saw the

It was a grey day, I liked the dramatic sky and fall feeling. There were many kinds of birds, and my first time seeing Goldeye ducks from a distance. There were a lot of people jogging or walking. Some schoolchildren were out there for their nature class. More people were out of the office during lunch break. I painted the second one by turning ninety degrees at the same spot basically. My work got many compliments, including from those young students. It made me happier that more people knew how to appreciate an artist's work in progress, especially in Silicon Valley. An older guy stopped by and started asking so many questions, like where I had learned how to paint, how long does it take to finish a painting, how much does each work cost, was my talent genetic, etc. Then he started imagining if I was living during the Renaissance with all the great talents, etc. Lol... He stopped by again after he had done his jogging, told me that he had five grandchildren, so I decided to p

"Without great solitude, no serious work is possible." -- Pablo Picasso I keep reminding myself that I don't have to spend hours on the road for one or two paintings at the location each day. Not sure why I keep doing it. Wednesday was my first time painting at Montara State Beach on Cabrillo Hwy. It was cold and gray, only 50 degrees, though I was well prepared. Does it mean "passion", I hope so. It is the artist's duty to be inspired and create. And most time I was really isolated, no signals for cell phone and computer, only my outdoor painting station, and only my working clothes on, and me...

Got caught into traffic in the morning. Spent an hour and half drive for only 30 minutes on location. My first time at this place. Only had enough small change for two hours parking. The park was charming, some workers were trimming the trees while I was painting. Leaves had changed colors, many coy fish swimming in the pond. I could hear the fish jumping, maybe looking for food... I tried to paint as fast as I could, and did a small sketch when waiting for the my painting to dry. Time had run out, had to pack and go. Do you think this painting finished?

I really did not want to stay indoors on such a gorgeous autumn day. A new location I just discovered on Skyline Blvd in Woodside was on my mind, and had to give it a try. It was challenging and fun driving on the winding Moody and Skyline roads. A couple of sharp turns were about 300 degrees. Tasting room was closed on Tuesday, but that special deep dry grape smell was with me while I was painting in a very peaceful spot in front of the pond. Just love this harvest season! Will be back to paint again!  (November 5 2019)

Sunday I went to support all the Plein Aire Artists in Capitola. Saw old artist friends and met new ones. Many beautiful artworks painted at that location in the past few days. I got inspired, especially listening to the judge Paul Kratter's educational speech when awarded the winning artists. He shared his rich art knowledge with us on each winning piece and why it was the best of his choice in the category. I was so happy that a couple of my friends had won the awards, and some artworks were sold! Monday was warm, painted the front landscape of the Santa Clara City Hall. The bronze statue of St. Clare was sculpted by Ann Van Kleeck in the 1960's. I didn't need to use my tripod, put my easel on the decorative low garden wall in front of a restaurant since the restaurant wasn't opened yet. I think I would like to paint locally instead of spending hours driving on the road. Once in a while is OK. Plein Air should become visual artist's life style. What do you think?

I caught a real live spider inside my house on Halloween morning, and released it to outside in natural. Having learned my lesson yesterday, I painted at the nearby location today. Easy day, leaves have started changing colors, noon still felt hot in the sun. Got to love the weather, but we do need rain to save more families🙏, stop the fires and for the agriculture as well.

A few sketches I did when traveling on the train in Spain weeks ago. I really enjoyed people watching there, wish everyone could be my model. Today I planned to paint at the San Mateo Memorial Park. My car GPS didn't give the location, I only could follow Google maps, started all in red on the high way 280. Turned on the route 84, everything looked so beautiful through the dappled sunlight, especially all the tall redwoods. I enjoyed driving on the winding roads, thought that my driving skill has definitely improved since I had started doing Plein Air. An accidentally-killed dead deer's half body was left on the roadside. Inside the mountains, Google maps asked to make U turns a couple times, I knew I hadn't arrived, didn't follow. It was my first time to be at this location and I finally arrived to a sign announcing that the park was closed due to a high fire situation. Bummer... Of course it was reasonable since the Sonoma big fire hasn't been put down yet.

Drove to Guglielmo Winery in Morgan Hill this morning. The air was chilled, temperature suddenly dropped down 20 plus degrees, though felt the summer only the day before. Excited to try my birthday present Escoda brushes bought in Barcelona. Said "Hola" to a worker looked like a Mexican guy, he responded in English. I laughed at myself to use one of the few words I knew in Spanish not to the right person. Did two quick watercolor sketches, and if possible to take a longer time to get to used to the new brushes I believe. Left around noon, it was still feeling dry and hot in the sun.  (October 28 2019)

Gorgeous day came to Los Altos History Museum to paint, spent a lot of time to find a parking spot. A quick work, then I was invited to an artist/architect's beautiful house for a lunch party near by. So much food in a lovely and well designed home. She designed her own home, how cool it was! Enjoyed the rest of day!

My first time to paint this gorgeous hidden winery. After the owner Vivian showed us around with her friendly, four-year old super active border collie dog, I decided to paint grapes hanging on the vines, actually left on the vines. It was quite hot in the sun, I had to use my umbrella though it was only 45 degrees before I left home in the morning. This cute dog was sitting not far from me, one of his paws sat on small sticks. Of course I understood all he wanted was to find a way to play. I tried focusing to my painting. After a while, he lost his patience and started barking. Couldn't stop at the moment, watercolors dried on paper so fast, I had to continue... Roughly finished, on the way back to my car, I saw him was all wet, just swam or did something fun in the pond I guessed. I picked up a small tree branch from the ground, didn't throw away very far, than I found a small piece of wood chips to throw. He was so happy to pick it up, and carried it inside his mouth runni

Between the end of May and the early of June of 2019, I joined one of the international Plein Air groups organized by professional Chinese artists. It was located in southern China in a 2,500 year old, ancient Canal-town near Suzhou, call Luzhi 甪直. Several great artists were invited to do demos and lectures. About 40 artists attended, most of them were Chinese professional artists. The event also included some American and Australian artists Billyo O'Donnell, Joseph Mcgurl and Kasey Sealy. We painted, listened to demos and lectures in the evening, ate food and partied for te days... We had a great time together, exchanged knowledge, not only about Plein Air, but also art and history, etc.. Food was great, we had more than 12, sometime 15 dishes each lunch and dinner, and meals included wine and beer. It was the first trip to China for Billy, Joseph and Kasey. Weather was nice and a little bit steamy, but it was gray most of time when we were there. There was one watercolor dem

Today I continued painting the garden series worked on design. This succulent was blue color, it looked very interesting when the light and the shadows there. Of courses the light was gone after I had finished it.

What I like is the winter light that makes the shadows longer and bigger, gives a dramatic look. Sunny day, I still felt cold standing in the shade and painting outdoors. Today I painted this sick succulent in my backyard, which I had been watching for a while, not sure how long I could have it. I didn't want to paint the hanging chain in too much detail, the focal point was the plant. Good benefits of painting at home or nearby are don't need to waste time on the road and paint familiar things or environments.