Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Joined a quick sketch in Zoom half way through. Wanted to get vaccinated, but could not find a vacant spot through the internet. Forgot about it, happy to draw out that frustration, happened that everyone had a hat on that day, interesting. Kept practice was more important!

Escaped one sketch class in Zoom last week and went to The Old Mission San Juan Bautista CA. This morning I was in the rush to join, but mistakenly clicked the wrong Zoom meeting button, and got in to the Santa Fe location. Then I had to wait to explain why I got into their group before I quited so I wasn't being rude. Finally, I got into the right class and it was nice to practice and study on people's faces again. The challenging part is always not enough time to capture little more information to express the persons character. Usually I use a small size pad for sketching. I bought a 18"x12" 70 pages sketch book years ago, and had only started to use last year. Now it looks has a quarter of the book left. Definitely I would love to continue sketching, probably will search for a slightly smaller size sketch book next time.

Haven't gone out painting for over a week. Just wish I could physically overcome these allergy attacks. Short one hour, feels like jetlag. Arrived late this Monday morning to a Zoom sketch for an hour, excuse was that I was sneezing like crazy, just because one of my indoor plants has one little blooming flower. Those portrait sketches I did, had noticed that each one of them had the glasses on. For quick sketch, every second counted, but the glasses added more work. Also, I tried to draw smaller size, and the smaller area even harder to work with charcoals, I never sharpen my charcoals anyway. Enjoyed the practice though.

"There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself."(Don't remember who said it) Joining Monday morning zoom in sketch. Just happened that they were all women I drew. Tried to express each of their character in minutes, need to keep practicing...

 Feb. 1 Joined a zoom minute figure drawing from life models meeting. . out of my comfort zone, frustrated, and quit... Never thought drawing could make me exhausted. Every second passed extremely fast during each pose. All the life models were super-professional. Felt that I didn't have time to breath, the faster I tried to draw, the less connected my brain, eyes and hands became... Felt out of control. Felt hopeless, I had to quit after trying for around two hours. How could I improve my drawing speed? Everyone knows the answer - practice more....

  My annual allergies have started up again, and it has me "locked" indoors, can't go out painting often. Joined a zoom meeting for drawing minute sketches. Focused on value study. Frustrating and enjoyable at the same time...

Raining Monday morning, back to work. Could not paint outdoors, but joined zoom minute drawing sketch. Sharing several drawings I did.

It was a busy week for sure! Tuesday I tried to finish the figure study at home studio, but there was still some correction needed... Wednesday, went to see Barbara Tapp's very inspirational demo organized by CWA, great way to learn from her. Did a quick sketch of her. Thursday started another new figure study, still in the very beginning process. Thanks to the model Dan for collecting the original portrait I painted. What a generous gentleman, I sincerely thanks to his support and encouragement. After that, went to a gallery opening, only chatted with a couple of artists, felt so tired and hungry, went home eat. Good night.h the figure study at home studio, but there was still some correction needed... Wednesday, went to see Barbara Tapp's very inspirational demo organized by CWA, great way to learn from her. Did a quick sketch of her. Thursday started another new figure study, still in the very beginning process. Thanks to the model Dan for collecting the original portrait

2020 Day21 Picked up oil again, struggling for three hours, not a good result...

2020 Day14 Kept my promise and came back to paint the red boat at the Coyote Point Recreation park. Mike the boat owner was there, and we chatted a little bit. It was gray with wind, and I couldn't finish it, because of another figure drawing class. Ate a cracker for lunch. Did two sketches from the model in limited watercolor pallet. I thought I could have the red boat painting completed tonight, but starving and exhausted, just wanted to go to bed...

2020 Day13 Instantly decided to go and paint at Alviso after looking out of window and seeing those dramatic clouds in the early afternoon. I changed my strategy to avoid rush hour traffic. Came for the landscape for sure, but also any unique subject that I couldn't see often I would do it. I discovered a group of mushrooms and did a watercolor sketch. I didn't bring a chair, couldn't sit on the wet ground. You could imagine it wasn't easy to do. It was a beautiful day. We don't usually see clouds, only during our winter rainy season. The wet land looked amazing with the reflection of the clouds in the water. Suddenly, hundreds birds started flying together. Super bright white birds against the mountains with the shadow of the clouds in the background. That precious moment what I saw really took my breath away. Then I parked my car, decided to wait to see the birds flying together again. Did a sketch while I was waiting. What I was waiting for did not happen,

2020 Day9 Two years ago I bought this drawing pad and wanted to do figure drawings. I found this pad hiding under my table when I cleaned up my studio room before the new year. It was raining a little bit and good excuse not painting outdoors. I've only had a couple of time figure drawing experiences, totally a beginner. Sat next to a very experienced artist, wanted to learn from him. Ended up directly facing the model was super-difficult for me to draw. Also I was too busy working on my own drawing to talk to the other artist. Pretty tough for three hours, not mentioned I didn't have the right pencils and charcoals. Hopefully I will be able to get better soon. Any feedback?

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.

"A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are." -- Unknown Saturday at Pacifica. Gorgeous sky and the ocean, painted near the Pier. Heard a familiar voice, surprised to see a couple of my long time no see friends. Their kids are off to college now so they have a little more time for themselves. The rest of the afternoon and evening we tried to catch up, and they took us to see the beautiful San Francisco night view on the top of twin peaks.

🎨Santa Cruz landscape inspires me, especially when I sketch plein air 在海邊寫生😊.