Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

It was so wonderful raining for a couple of days. Seemed that the dry season had ended up earlier, and the early rain was much needed for sure in California. Got up and saw such a lovely clearly day, then rushed out to the location. Surprised to notice there were several very old buildings partially in ruins though their historic plaques were still in tact. What were going on? There are always many paintable subjects in Alviso, but it depended on the weather and light first of all. I decided to paint the railway and the dramatic clouds behind it. My wheeled-backpack rolled away many times while I was painting because of the strong wind. Really wanted to quit, but I kept reminding myself it was one of the important things of being an outdoor painter, to bear a certain amount discomfort, otherwise there was is little improvement in the work. Awesome, I did it! Added the cables at home on the table, kept my loose style :).  (October 25 2021)

Roberto-Suñol Adobe, San Jose, CA where is a historical place to paint. The garden was beautiful, I started drawing immediately. Then I thought it was complicated and how I could finish this watercolor painting in such a limited time. So I decided only to use my large brushes, ignoring all the details, focusing on light, positive and negative shapes, wet into wet techniques, etc... After the painting done, I joined the tour at the museum, learned some history about this location. Spring is coming, cold in the morning, but it was about 70 degree during noon already.

Switching to oil 12"x12".  Beautiful and warm after days of rain. There were many free range chicken, who were huge and friendly. They knew they could get food from people I believe. No food from me today. First time plein air at Emma Prusch Farm Park, San Jose, CA, and the first time I painted out in oil, I had to concentrate. Still they were cute, I took some photos for future painting project😊. I'm on Instagram.com, welcome to follow@https://www.instagram.com/artxuelingzou/ Please visit my website for more original art @https://fineartamerica.com/profiles/xueling-zou/shop

Today is Christmas, and I am back to this county park. Sketching a little bit, but ended up on a four-hour-hike in the mountain. I've learned a lot about the history of the old mine here. Nature inspires me! Enjoying editing my photos and a couple of small videos to create this short animated story on my smart phone. Merry Christmas to every one🎄!

On this special day, I'd love share my story how I started painting African American portraits, because some viewers are always curious about what inspires me to paint them. I was told by many that the colors I painted were warm and soft, and the facial expressions were so well captured. I was asked why I kept painting them instead of others, or if I had a secret reason to do so... A lot of very interesting questions... First  I don't think that each artist has to have a hidden reason for painting.  I haven't been professionally trained in a real art school.  Painting Asian faces is challenging to me. I don't live in a neighborhood full of African Americans, but I enjoy their music and culture.  Their face expression can tell a story to a visual artist from China like me. One of my favorite novels is "Gone with the Wind".  I read it many times in Chinese, and watched the movie countless times.  In June 2007, I visited Atlanta, Georgia.  O...

Sister Wendy Beckett (born 25 February 1930) is a Catholic nun, who was born in South Africa and educated in Oxford where she was awarded a first class degree in English literature. She has lived a life of solitude for almost thirty years on the grounds of a monastery in England. I never knew about Sister Wendy until I started painting in 2001. Our local library carries a very decent amount of books and DVDs. So, I go there and check them out often, I have found many art resources. I did not pay too much attention to the stories behind each masterpiece before. I was more interested in learning the composition or techniques, etc. One day, I saw Sister Wendy on a cover of a DVD in the art section and just out of curiosity I brought it back home to watch. That was the most remarkable experience I had ever had. I was totally moved by her eloquence and charm, her profound spirit, her passion in art, her rich knowledge and outstanding description of sharing her views on each masterp...

This piece won the 1st place in the Contest - Shoes on May 18th, 2012.  This painting was inspired by "The Red Shoes", which was first introduced to me by my mother. To me The Red Shoes has become a symbol of a career woman who has devoted her life to her job, or made some sacrifice in life. I painted this piece with my love for my mother.  Slowly I understand her more and more day after day. Happy Mother's Day! Inside and out Mom and I are so different, only one thing I have in common with her - a fast walk. She is outgoing, can make friends everywhere she goes through a very short conversation, rich or poor, old or young, higly educated person or without any education, even in different cultures, sometimes without language communication... She was beautiful and talented in theater arts, dancing, singing and acting. She was chosen to be an actress in a couple of movies when she was very young. Then she became a principal opera singer (western style) preformed o...

Watching "The Bodyguard" in the movie theater, my English was still very limited to understand every piece of the story back then. But I was so moved by Whitney Houston's beauty, talent and emotion expression, especially the song "I Always Love You" - her magical singing stuck into my head forever... I did hear the music of National Anthem before. After the movie, I had found out Whitney Houston's incredible powerful voice in the recording of that song. Her Welcome Home Heroes concert with HBO for the soldiers fighting in the Persian Gulf War and their families made the whole nation feel proud of her. Her concert gave HBO its highest ratings ever after that! Many records of hers not only rocked the music world, and also introduced me into her music world! Since then, I realized I became a fan of hers. I started paying more attention to other kinds of music besides classical, like jazz, blues, etc.. We lost a beautiful artist, a talented singer, an...