Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

It has been over a week since I painted out. I always wanted to come back to this place and paint in spring, finally I made it before all the grasses turned yellow. Found a peaceful spot in the shade, watching all the girls cleaning the horses, then riding them on the trails while I was painting. There was a lady training a horse and made the area full of dust near me. That horse might be not cooperating. I heard the trainer using a whip in the air and talking to the horse, "what kind of horse are you" One young girl finished her riding and came to see my painting. She told me that she read books and found out she really loved horses since she was a child. Another lady Tania complimented my painting and we had chat. She told me something about horses I didn't know after she saw a horse in my painting. She wasn't Russian, but her name was given from her mother's Russian friend. What a lovely day and got to paint at this beautiful place! (April 15 2022)

Jan 13 I didn't want to miss painting outdoors in such a gorgeous day, sunny and warm. Painted at this peaceful location, saw many beautiful horses, and the same old couple walking on the trail holding their hands. It was only five weeks ago I painted at the same location. The grass had turned green after rain. Not much rain so far, not sure if California agriculture would have a harvest year if there wasn't enough water naturally. It was 68 degrees around noon. Several Mexican landscapers had their lunch break nearby me. I don't understand Spanish, but I could hear they were chatting happily. California provide them good opportunities, or should say they helped California develop. Then a lady passed by, she was curious what I was working on, and gave me compliment. She also asked if I painted it on an i-pad or a PC. My mind was frozen for a second, and told her that I painted on traditional watercolor paper. She left with her surprised face. Felt a little sorry for her, ha...

Dec. 9 Always wanted to paint at this location. Finally I came upon a warm winter day. There was haziness between the rolling hills in the distance, tree leaves were still displaying their autumn colors, horses were hanging around near the barn, people with their dogs were walking on the hill path... Enjoyed the peacefulness, but struggled with my painting. Never thought that it was so difficult to make the right color choices, might be because I tried to only bring limited colors for practice. One thing I noticed that I was able to leave white space for the highlight area. Must come back again.

Chinese New Year is one of the most important traditional holidays and is celebrated on the first day of the year of the Chinese calendar (lunisolar). In China, it is also known as the Spring Festival, or "Lunar New Year". 2014 is the Year of Green Wood Horse in the Chinese zodiac related to the Chinese calendar, starts on January 31. Like many other cultures, horse is one of Chinese favorite animals, horse is not only a symbol of traveling, but also a sign of speedy success. The horse is an intelligent animal. Horses need to be trained to become useful to humans. Interestingly, Chinese wouldn't let horses do farm work. Instead, all the farmland jobs go to the ox. This is because Chinese believe that horses can help human to win battles. Sitting on a horses back implies that the person is from a noble or higher ranking family. So people born in the Horse year usually care about their dressing, outlook and speech. So place a horse or many horse symbols around to en...

I believe that communication is the main reason to prove that we are social animals, just like horses and dogs. I love to study the relationship between humans and animals, and create a painting on canvas to tell a story through my visual language, my imagination to my viewers. It is why I paint differently rather than just copy a photo. Also, it helps me to learn more and understand better living beings after each painting.  "A lovely horse is always an experience.... It is an emotional experience of the kind that is spoiled by words.  "  - Beryl Markham "He is your friend, your partner, your defender, your dog. You are his life, his love, his leader. He will be yours, faithful and true, to the last beat of his heart. You owe it to him to be worthy of such devotion."  - Unknown "A horse is the projection of peoples' dreams about themselves - strong, powerful, beautiful - and it has the capability of giving us escape from our mundane existence." ...

Dog and horse are the natural animals to get along with humans! They can remember people even after long separations. They have their own emotional expressions. As a visual artist, I think it is very important to capture their emotion and personal expression, just like when I do the portraits for humans, it doesn't matter which style I use in painting, but the communication is the key for success in painting portraits, I believe! They are loyal, sweet, really your most trustworthy friends. They can understand words better than expected, according to the research, and possess "excellent memories" too! They never leave you, no matter if you are happy or upset, poor or rich, they are always next to you. Just thinking of them, thinking about their best qualities of their personalities, it makes me want to paint them. Hope my paintings can really bring each viewer that kind of happiness:-)! ​Or join me at: FaceBook , Instagram , Twitter , Pinterest