Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Dec 31 2020 Happy New Year to you all !新年快樂 !Wishing all of you a safe, healthy, happy, and prosperous 2021! Many thanks to those who support and encourage me as an artist daily! A like and/or a comment can make a difference! And thanks especially to all collectors of my work. My last painting in 2020. Another beautiful day, rain made the distant hills turn greener. I came to one of my favorite painting spots. Many people were at the park, not easy to find parking. Walked around a bit, saw fishing boats and instantly set up my workstation. Took exactly three hours to finish this work. But don't forget I am a longtime artist, started as a part time, then being a full-time artist for over a decade now. Practicing painting outdoors for three and half years already. I've learned so much from nature, from the great artists both living and no longer with us, and from myself. I have to 100% focus when I paint. So that means being in solitude is the way I work best. Though I enjoy pain...

This original watercolor painting was inspired by Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and The Sea.  It is one of my favorite watercolors, and a great gift for Father's Day. (Please click the image to enlarge) I read this book in Chinese a long time ago, then I read it again in English when I was studying in Australia. Back to my overseas studying time, I had to take the ferries from the place I lived to school each day for a while. Not mention the terrible home sick I had, the ending of relationship with my first boy-friend, when I struggled with every single little detail in life. But nothing could stop my love of the ocean and I enjoyed taking ferries on beautiful and stormy days. Watching the sun-rising or sun-setting, sailing by the magnificent city landscape and the awesome boats out on the sea, I promised myself that I knew I would overcome the difficulties... Years later, I started painting watercolors after moving to Bay Area in California, and the first one in m...

I love boats, studying on boats is a joy to me.  I can easily wander around dock, look at each one of the boats, take countless photos for hours.  Of course, I enjoy painting them as well.  To me, getting the best composition is the key of an successful painting, then shape, color palette... "The act of painting is a spiritual covenant between the maker and the higher powers. the Intent of the artist flows through the work of art, no matter what the technique or style."  (―Audrey Flack "Art &Soul - Notes on Creating") "It almost doesn't matter what you paint. It is what takes place during the act of painting that matters. It doesn't matter what style or technique you use. It is the artistic result and personal development that counts." As Joseph Addison (1672 – 1719, English essayist, poet, playwright and politician.) said, "The chief ingredients in the composition of those qualities that gain esteem and praise, are good nature, truth, go...