Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

I thought I would paint a head portrait, but instead did a figurative study again on a used 16"x20" panel. Had to work on his legs more. Continued using my leftover Veridian Green.  Anyway the lighting system in the studio was cooler.   He was a very professional model, and we had him again for our evening short pose three-hour session.  He read a book instead of using his smart phone during each break, seems usual these days.   Pages of drawings I did,  and I was tired after two sessions total of six hours painting and drawing the same model. I was wondering if our sitter was exhausted too.  (March 19 2024)

Learned from previous sessions, I brought two canvas panels to the art center, one was 12"x16", the other was 16"x20". After a short hesitation, I chose the smaller size. Matt was a new model for me, he looked like an American Indian, I guessed but didn't ask. Interesting lighting on his body, I barely saw his face, almost completely dark from the angle I painted. I do not usually paint so small, don't even have the smallest brushes.  I could not manage to have his whole body fit on the canvas, otherwise I would have a difficult time to paint it without smaller brushes. He is a good model, but I am not sure if I will attend the second session next week. Usually the pose of the model and lighting are never quite the same.  ( June 2 2022)

Seems that working in the studio and Plein Air outdoors are quite different in many ways. Went to Carmel Plein Air painting with my friends for four days, missed the last session for short-pose live model drawing. So I found that I had difficult time to draw. No matter two minutes, five minutes or ten minutes, I could not draw fast and correctly enough, didn't have time to draw a leg or arm. This model was good, he worked very hard, I saw his body shaking during the pose. Of course we all pay good tips to our models. (May 10 2022)

Always look forward to drawing nude models for their short poses. But I felt it was super challenging to draw this one. His body proportions were unique, long and slim. He posed in many twisty positions while standing, I only could try my best, many other artist said that they felt not easy to draw him too. Felt better by knowing I was not the only one that had a hard time. Hahaha... (April 26 2022)

It was challenging to draw this new male model, not sure why. But the other artists said the same. I think that it is harder to draw the male than the female body. Lots of practice but somehow never feel enough though. (April 12 2022).

Painted two session of the male live mode on a panel 16"x20", felt too small to work on. The second session spent most of time to correct the light and model position, because it couldn't be the same. This is another study of figure and duotone, I won't able to finish it.(March 10 & 17 2022)

I thought my study was done after a 3-hour session, because we had a different model the following week. Glad that this model came back, and we could continue finishing work on his portrait study.  The light on his face had changed, so did his position.  Not only spent 3 hours correcting my work, totally invested more than 10 hours for this 12"x16" work.  And I have to wait for the painting to dry a little bit to see if I am satisfied with the result.  I worked in duotone, so it is challenging in a different way.  (March 8 2022)

It was International Women's Day. We had a new male model from Santa Cruz tonight.  Some of the new models couldn't stay still, but it seemed that he was an experienced one.  He stayed posed, even his gestures retained the same position, those were very important for drawing in short period of time to us! (March 8 2022)

Pray for World Peace !I brought my portrait study for retouching today. Surprised to see a different model, he was our evening live model for drawing class. Lucky I brought a new canvas panel to work on. Our model was a new one, and he had a little difficult time to stand still. I continued to use two colors, and it was a good exercise session. (March 1 2022)

I don't even remember the last time I did a male portrait study. Today we had the same model that did our previous short pose session, he was a very good model who was Egyptian from Boston, stayed still. I could see his nose and mouth area, because he wore a plastic transparent mask, but all the reflection made me confused. So I had to work with a photo reference. Went home, continued working on the same portrait for two more hours. Practice is not fun, but it a must be done.  (February 22, 24 2022)

When saw the model's name was a male on the list, I almost didn't want to go the class because I know that I can't draw male figure well. After a long hesitation, I finally decided to go.  I was late, but I was so glad I went.  What a professional model, not only he had built up his body well, also his poses were stable.  I enjoyed drawing the session well. (February 15 2022)

Challenging to draw a male aesthetic body, might be there are fewer male models. And he is African American, so not easy to control the darker tones in his short poses in several minutes. There were more people tonight, we all wore N95 or KN95 masks. Have been sketching live models for a while, but only can see my tiny improvement. (January 25 2022)

The model was late, so a female artist was managed to be a short pose model for a couple of minutes. Then a young and skinny guy came, he was the model tonight. He was long and slim. I found that it was quite challenging to draw him. But there were two young guy artists next to me drew in a confident and skillful way, quite mature for their age, they looked. They told us that they had been practicing drawing for ten years. I wondered why and realized it is the only way get better, keep practicing! (November 16 2021)

Drawing can be fun or painful. My new drawing paper hadn't arrived yet so I had to stick with my small sketch book and found out it wasn't easy to draw on it using charcoals.  There was not enough room to express with that media. I struggled through another 3 hour session on Tuesday night. A male's body is more difficult than a female's. There are too many biological features, like bones and muscles, etc.  Just can't work on small paper for sure!  Can't wait for my new paper +!  (September 28 2021)

Portrait study has been one of my favorite practices in painting. Personally, I am interested in studying African American faces, and have taken many photos for my reference. Their face structure and color tones are very expressive. I just have started painting from life models, most of them are Caucasians so far. I have found their skin tone is more challenging to me to paint, also the colors we see and paint indoors under light are so much different the everything we see outdoors. Honestly, the one on the left was after my third major correction on the original painting based on a 3-hour session.

Good news is one of my Plein Air boat paintings had found a happy home. I delivered my work on Sunday which was a super windy day. And Mike who just bought my painting gave me a brand new canvas as well. Here, my week was full of random things, but I kept my painting and learning schedule firm. Tuesday and Thursday working at the art studio from live models. I did mostly retouches on Tuesday. Thursday, I had to restart another 20"x16" figure study for the same position, because it was very difficult for me to correct the one from last week. Still work in progress, more correction needed... Wednesday I went to see David Savellano's Demo in Pleasanton through CWA. David did a wonderful demo, really enjoyed watching and learning from him. Friday worked at home studio retouching two oil paintings I did during the week. Although the news is not very positive regarding the Coronavirus in China, I have been worrying so much recently for my motherland...only can hope for th...

2020 Day28 I always love portrait paintings, used to study on the photos I captured. Not today, a real model face study was challenging， struggled through three hours. The model he had American Indian blood, I tried to capture his honorable and proud stature. I was happy at this point. Of course there were many small areas I wanted to correct, but had to wait... On the way out, someone recognize the model from my portrait, she was excited and that made me happy. BTW, does anyone know which brand of linseed oil carrier metal bottle is good? The rubber part was old, and the linseed leaked. Also, the filter was too sharp, made my brush spread. Just ordered more brushes, now I need a new oil carrier.