Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

From May 18 to 20, plein air on the California Coast along Cabrillo Hway #1.  The first day was beautiful, we drove to Point Lobos State Natural reserve about 10 am.  There was not a parking spot left, so we couldn't get in.  Instead we painted along the Cabrillo Hway #1.  Nice view but it was noisy.  Afternoon, painted on the hill, I found a further view of a house on the rock through the "window" of a big tree. We learned our lesson, drove into the park earlier the next morning.  Felt ambitious and brought our gear and set up near the Bird Island Trail near China Cove.  It was beautiful but too windy, had to pack the gear up, and felt "defeated in battle".  A photography couple we met on the trail told us that they could not get into the park yesterday too.  So they came in earlier this morning just like us. Then we painted at the bottom of China Cove because it was less windy, at the most popular Sand Hill Cove parking lot, overlooked the lonely tree on top o

Celebrating 10 years of my blog today!  https://originalartstories.blogspot.com/2011/09/ Here is my first blog story on September 14 2011: A Dog's Fate - 一条狗的命运   https://originalartstories.blogspot.com/2011/09/dog-fate.html Another gray day, only 57 degrees, super cold at the location. Hiking on the breathtaking coastal trail after Plein Air last week, I discovered this magnificent outlook on the trail, but had to carry my heavy painting gear walking down about 60 big steps. No big deal but the watercolor paper wouldn't dry easily in this kind of weather condition. So I had to paint differently than I normally do. Rocks, waves and trees were difficult to paint. Overall I think my painting result was OK. About 50 miles, but there were about 30 degrees temperature difference at the location and my home. (September 14 2021)

It was very gray and only 60 degrees at the location this morning, my first time painting here. Looking for a public restroom, surprisingly met another Plein Air painter L X (my name's short cut as XL, haha... what a coincidence) So we painted nearby each other. Then hiked after our paintings were done and happily caught up on the time since COVID-19... Very foggy, walked the rocky and windswept shoreline trail,  could not even see the Golden Gate Bridge, but there was a spectacular scene each turn of the trail even on such a gray day.  Definitely will be back and paint again. What an inspirational place!  On the way back, got caught up in a little traffic, and it was 93 degrees at home.  (September 7 2021)

What a gorgeous day came back to paint, though it was windy and chilly. There were a couple of beautiful pine trees and surrounding rocks on the edge of the cliffs were beautiful, especially under the morning light. I was so focused on my work, constantly stopped, backed up to view how I did... Once I backed up a little further, suddenly I noticed that I was standing on the very edge of the cliff, lucky me that I didn't fall, lol... Yesterday I planned to paint at Pigeon's Point Lighthouse, but the weather report indicated very strong winds there, so I didn't go. Then I went to San Jose area, found a historical warehouse I wanted to paint, but there were three small dogs barking next to me endlessly, I had to give it up...  (April 10 2019