Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Good news! One of my original oil paintings on canvas has found a new home.  Today I packed it up  carefully, and mailed it to one of my returning collectors in United Kingdom.   Didn't go out to paint for several days. I told myself that I should paint outdoors one painting at least. But it was a gray day mostly. In the afternoon sun was out for a short while, the light and shadows contrasted and were very interesting at the location. Forgot that my original idea was to paint the water fountain, so I did a quick painting of the house and the front yard. Maybe I will add in little details later, because the watercolor paper won't dry at the location, and it was getting dark so quick... (November 19 2021) This original oil on canvas " Ukulele and Hibiscus Flower on a Hawaii Beach "has found a new home, prints are available.

A gorgeous day, went to Shoreline Park to meet other watercolor artists and paint together. Arrived at the Rengstorff House, there was a graduation party going on. Found a shady spot, set up my work station, then I found out that I didn't bring any watercolor paper. Haha, I was wondering why my gear bag was a slightly lighter in weight this morning.  So, I only completed my sketch.   Came back home and decided to organize my art supplies a little bit, those always occupy so much space.  I needed to find out if I have to buy more materials for Alameda Paintout Event coming up in August.  I would have plenty of  time to order online learning from my previous lessons.  Surprised to see a couple of my very old sketches.  They brought back memories, some of them were the doodles of my commissioned works. One of those I wrote down in "7 2006".  It was hard to believe about fifteen years already.  I still had my job working back then.  Yes, I could see the progress I had made,

Raining for days, working @ my studio... Finally my old color palette is fallen apart. First, the 2 lids were broken, one was the lid of the container, and the other one was for covering the paints area. Then the side of the box was broken. So I glued everything back together. I have been using it on and off at studio and outdoors at least 15 years I believe. Though I had bought a few different palettes, still this is my most favorite one, functional and light in weight. I don't need too many colors, and I love it has large and deep area holding each color, it is just the simple right size for me. This time I won't able to glue everything back again unfortunately, have to let it go... My new order is on the way...

"If you are lucky enough to have lived in Paris as a young man, then wherever you go for the rest of your life it stays with you, for Paris is a movable feast." - Ernest Hemingway We traveled to Paris 15 years ago. Captured so little using a Kodak 1st generation digital camera. This trip re-directed my life, I re-picked up my paint brush after my early teens...

I think I am quite lucky that I have already found my passion in life - painting and creating art. This is the only thing I do not want missing no matter what happens. One day I had this idea in mind, so I used red color to describe the awful pain expanding over my body that I have experienced recently, especially during the time I sleep. Concentrating on painting this piece for hours like normal, I forgot to eat and even drink water. After it was done, the name naturally came to me "Dream Big", Yes, I encourage myself and do not let anything destroy my passion! Suddenly, I discovered that painting helped me forget my pain surprisingly. Really true - my passion has become my most natural pain killer during the time I created this piece! It seems that there are always some obstacles in the course of life. I've always reminded myself that I should believe in myself and I would create a master piece after going through these first. But unlike anything else before,

"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." - Buddha (Please click the image to enlarge) This true story really touches me, so I'v decided to share it with the people who create art or love art. Photography is not my main purpose, being an independent artist I've taken many photos for my painting references everywhere I go for owning the copyrights. This was one of photos I took at a temple in San Francisco a couple years ago. Lights are Yang energy in FengShui. I thought it was positive, auspicious, and posted it on my website to share. Two month ago, I received a message from a friend on Facebook: "Hi Xueling, I need some professional advice. Here is the story, My sweet daughter, Alyssa Tabit, lives in LA. Last October she went with her boyfriend to Ohio for a wedding. We received a devastating call on the morning of October 7th. Our daughter

I still have the nightmares about how nervous I was during exams, how much I was afraid to fail, and how hard the exam questions were, or there never was enough time to finish what I tried to write, after I had been done with school for so long... I guess our Chinese culture trains us that we should do our best in our classes, if one failed, you could loose your own face and your family's, friends', etc.. My mother was too busy with her work, and never paid too much attention to how I was doing, but I knew if I could get straight A's, I could get to travel allowance, which I always looked forward to. I was kind of lost for quite a long time, didn't know what to learn, I mean that I didn't find any subject I had passion for. Of course, I enjoyed very much studying at school for as long as I could remember (I believe that I love the learning process, at the same time I hate all the exams, though I am not a book warm type.). So many awards I earned of Mathematics and

“What i like about photographs is that they capture a moment that’s gone forever, impossible to reproduce.”   ― Karl Lagerfeld As much as I enjoy painting, photography is one of my favorite things to do.  Not because I have to collect enough images for my original art, also I think digital media gives us more creative space, with such a wide range of tools available for self-expression, we should update our skills, and be creative as much as possible.  So get your camera ready. During shopping time, I carry my camera sometimes too.  I asked this young lady if I could capture a photo of this cute puppy Chihuahua in her hand, of course she was happy and I was able to keep this lovely photo. (Please click the image to enlarge) I was looking for a laundromat when I traveled in Mexico.  These two dogs suddenly were running in front me.  I captured their adventure by holding my camera with one hand, the other hand was still carrying my dirty laundry... (Please click the ima