Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

After a hot summer, suddenly the temperature dropped down, felt like autumn this week. This is scene I see daily. After over a decade I finally decided to paint it. Setting up my workstation, I just drew what I usually saw, then started to paint with watercolors. Because summer was still in my mind, I used a little too much water at the beginning, so the paper kept wet for a long time, especially after sunset. Liked the vegetation over the fence, it was the overrunning green. I thought it could be green plants climbing over the fence. I could not complete the painting, not only was the paper too wet, also I felt cold and it was getting dark. The next day, I did my final touch and finished it. Maybe try another one again in the future, such a convenient spot. (September 19 2024)

Got up with my lower back pain, and it was gray. I hesitated if I should go paint... I made up my mind to go after breakfast, just because it was a new painting location to me. There is always traffic on #101 now, no matter during the rush hour/hours or not. I got caught in it both ways. Felt happy to see that many artists already found their spots to paint after I got there and found this secret garden.   Beautifully designed building in Spanish Mediterranean-style architecture. I tried to find where I could paint, and realized that every turn I might block one of the artist's views. Finally, I stayed near the gateway area and painted this more complicated scene. A Chinese lady painter came back from Hawaii, I met her before padamic. Unfortunately her house was burned down their. She taught me some TaiQi for my back pain and report back on my progress after 2 weeks. She brought her 96-year-old father with her. I saw him sitting on a bench and drawing in the distance, I thou

We had high heat for a couple of weeks, so it was very pleasant day at the waterfront. I found a shady spot and painted the Lake boathouse. Actually, I had both Shoreline Lake American Bistro and the Lake Boathouse in my mind.  But the white tent looked more interesting and I thought I would paint the visiters in front of it arriving for kids' summer camp as well. During the time I drew it, I changed my mind, because it was getting complicated.  At the end, I tried to unzip my favorite outdoor painting jacket, but it was stuck.  Worn out I guess after using it for many years.  I had to ask for help from other artists.  Three ladies helped, but could not unzip.  Finally, one of the ladies suggested unzipping it from the bottom, so I was at least able to take it off.   (July 8 2024)

It was not a warm morning, but the rain finally stopped. My husband drove me to the location, then he visited a friend who lived nearby. My first time coming here to paint.  Peaceful morning with the other artists, only could hear birds singing.  It is still our winter time in 50's and partly cloudy, I did several sketches.  Tried a German made fountain pen lent to me from another artist.  It was really a nice one, I might buy one. Sun came out later and brought the temperature up a little bit, then I did a quick watercolor sketch. Saw our friend and had nice chat with her, she introduced us to another park nearby. I would try to paint next time. (February 12 2024)

It was not a warm morning at the location. I got to one of my favorite painting spots and decided to paint again at this location. Couldn't remember how many times I've painted there before. Still, I started with a thumbnail, almost the same layout from my memory as before. I tried to use less water as it was hard to dry given the weather. One lady walked by me to complement my work, but she she surprised me and immediately apologized and told me that she was just walking by. Later some male voice was even louder behind me saying that it was a beautiful painting. That really scarred me a lot. Turned around and I saw two policemen driving by, they were kind and smiled, apologized as well. Then asked me when I started my work. I didn't really pay much attention, told them around nine o'clock. After they left, I realized that it might not have told them the correct time, they might misunderstand me and think I was not honest enough, oh, no.... Saw several other artis

Raining season finally has come.  It was the challenging part of Plein Air. Rained over night, a little unpredictable during daytime, not easy for painting outdoors. My husband pointed out the unique clouds outside our home window this morning. Fall colors were still there, also there were cooler colors in the distance with the fogginess. Wonderful for a watercolor work I thought. I brought my Plein Air painting pack upstairs, and started an "indoor" plein air landscape painting. Actually, I've wanted to paint the view outside our front of the window for over a decade of living at here, especially during the winter, when the scenery looks more beautiful after most of the leaves have fallen. There was an orange tree in the neighbor's backyard. I changed it to a pine tree, to carry some spirit of the coming holidays since there is no snow in our location. I enjoyed painting inside, didn't have to suffer from the cold or hot. windy or sunburn weather... but it

Laurie Hill, the organizer of Capitola Plein Air Evert, gave me a personal orientation before I started.  Weather was perfect, I was in a rush and felt excited to start working, but forgot my parking permit.  No worries, I saw a flower stand on the corner of Monterey St and Park Ave.  A Mexican Lady carried a baby, and two others looked like teenage girl helpers. Surprisingly, their business was very good.  Every several minutes someone stopped by and bought flowers. Not mention it was Tuesday.  I thought people usually buy flowers before the weekend. After my work was done, the younger teenager asked me if it was OK to take a photo, the lady with the baby she talked to me in Spanish, which I didn't understand. They took photo, then we had photo together. Next day, I met a newly wed couple from Texas while I was painting outside Zelda's on the Beach.  They seemed very interested in my work.  I gave them the Sunday exhibition info, hopefully they would come. Last year I almost m

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)

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

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'

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

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