Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

I haven't done a figure study for a while. Went to studio earlier to get a better seat.   Might be the model was too directly in front of me, and it wasn't easy to adjust her legs crossing each other. Not happy with the result after one three-hour session, I am not going back to correct my work next session, because I know that I should practice more.  (March 30 2023) Also I haven't practiced figure drawings. Glad that I went to draw from the live model.  Not only she was a good one, but I know I need to work on m anatomy to understand the human body better. (April 4 2023)

Missed the long pose live model study on Tuesday, so I went to the studio Thursday.  Got caught in traffic again, there was almost a full house of artists waiting for the model.  My first time painting this model, even though I was a little late I got a lucky spot, and I liked her pose.  A professional model too. After over a year of live model studies, I have come to a major  discovery.  I used too measure carefully instead of using my eyes to understand dimensionality in my drawings and portraiture works.  This time I used my objective feeling and exaggerated some features to get dimension, didn't measure everything exactly. I paid more attention to follow my instant feeling of her body instead of measuring.  Only one 3-hour session, I think I have done better using this approach.  Next step I should continue to work on my objective understanding of the subject and after that my style. I was so glad that I went to the studio, not so much for the...

Arrived 30 minutes earlier at the studio, because the model is one of my favorites. Our model she is African and Irish mixed. Today she wore a long white silk gown which contrasted her skin, very beautiful. But I didn't get the spot where I wanted to paint. She looked exactly straight to me, and her hands and feet were all together in the middle. Depends on my years of Plein Air experience, I know I must make decision quickly. Almost the same moment she moved her hand to touch her face, I captured the moment, so I could had a reference photo to paint while her two hands were positioned one horizontal, and one vertical. I already had done two portraits of her before, both were 12"x16". Today I worked on a new colored panel 16"x20". During the work, I noticed that her gown was quite challenging to paint, because of the white silky and reflective material. So I just focused on her whole shape, and used my left over color palette. Three hours was too shor...

Because of the Chinese Lunar New Year, I didn't go painting last week. Cleaning up was the major activity, got ready for the New Year.   Rain finally stopped, and the news said that there was enough water restored in our area. I only had one three-hour session for the long pose model in the afternoon. Working on an used 16"x20" canvas panel, quickly sketched, than started to put colors on. Even I have been practicing over a year, still certain proportions were not right after the session was finished. I know the challenging part is the correction.  Spent extra 6 hours to correct it after. In the evening, we had this African American female model back.  She is pretty and tall.  Each of her poses was nice, but I never could fit her onto my paper.  Just might be that she was very tall, and I was not used to it.  Of course I didn't expect I could draw figures super well, maybe someday soon.  One thing I have no doubt that practicing helps me to get...

Had an orange haired model for today's long pose session. I hadn't painted a live model in about one month as I mentioned in my last post.  The model was stable, I was able to layout her pose on another used canvas panel.  Other artists thought that it would be confusing for them if they saw the old oil painting in the background.  It didn't bother me, I could ignore it.  Mostly I used the pallet knife, but I didn't use it for the background; I will change it later.  The next day I spent two more hours correcting a little bit, but forgot the background, lol...  (October 11 2022)

For some reason I had to force myself to go painting. After arriving, I felt much better just being inside the studio with others. My first time to paint her, beautiful black skin, and she is a good model. One of the artists tipped her a hundred dollar bill after this session. I regret that I didn't paint her on the first session, I won't able to finish it.  (July 7 2022)

One of the artists suggested to that I start a new painting of the model after the long pose session last week. So I changed the painting angle of the model for this session. A lady artist came to me and told me that my work looked like an impressionist French female artist's work, but she couldn't remember her name. I wonder who that was? I thought my work looked more like expressionism. And I recently switched back to my original style plus several month practice. Glad that several artists told me they liked it. We had two different female models worked for us during the evening figure drawings. The second one was new to me. One of my artist friend she brought a book teach how to draw to me, after she saw me struggling through the session last Tuesday. How sweet of her, she even instructed me how to go through the book during our break. Always treasure friendship, who doesn't?  (June 14 2022)

A formal ballerina was our long post live model today.  She brought a three sit chair with her and her point shoes on her feet.  I was a little bit earlier, but it was hard to get a good painting spot.  Her position was lying down, very beautiful and elegant, but difficult.  Painting through with struggle for the form and corrected the figure through, three hours wasn't long enough.  Not sure I should continue to correct this one, or start over again next session. (June 16 2022)

Arrived at the studio on time, there were a lot of people there already.  But different artists had different opinions about the model's pose.  Of course they had their reasons, color, lighting, a good angle to see the model, or to avoid being blocked by someone in front.  It took more than 10 minutes before the model was settled.  She wasn't a new model, but it was my first time to study on her.  I was trying my own way to paint, which was new to me.  I stopped painting this way for a while, just because of influence from others in the studio.  I never had classical art training, but I have my own way to be creative.  There is never  enough time, I realized that my work had a little proportion issue after the session was over.  Shall I correct it next session, or shall I start a new one? Always like the short pose session, even if it is in the evening.  Tonight's model was an Indian American guy.  he was a good model.  We...

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)

Not sure why I could not get myself motivated, the laziness was all over my mind and body. Some of my works are half way done, I keep reminding myself that I should fix or finish them... Day by day I sink into the sofa, barely move around, and found all kinds of excuses for myself to do nothing. Till I noticed that I had gained a couple pounds again. It makes a big difference for me - each time I gain weight, I loose motivation. After Memorial Day, I started doing exercise again, dragged myself to the art center studio and took the second long pose session of the same live model to finish this portraiture. And I continued on to the evening short pose session. Found my arm even hard to reach where I wanted to draw. Unbelievable that only few ponds could cause so much unwillingness all over me. But glad I did it! (May 31 2022)

Our first time to paint this new model Melisa today. I started with a used 12"x16" canvas.  One artist friend mentioned to me that she would be confused working on uncovered used canvas.  I felt OK, and tried to paint with new style after not working at the studio about two weeks. My speed and correction were not as good as two weeks ago.  The painting wasn't near finished after 3-hour-session.  (May 10 2022)  Spent two or three hours or more fixing this portrait.  Tried to work like expressionist with black outlines, sometimes using a palette knife.  Hard to paint with consistency, in the studio and at home.  I had to stop before I changed too much from my original idea.  That was challenging working at home without a model, I decided to leave the arm area the way it was, lucky it was used canvas, the colors  matched well...

I was away for eight nights in May, missed several portraiture practice sessions in the studio. We were quite lucky to have Leigh back for our afternoon long post and evening short pose model. She dressed up in an evening gown with matching jewelry for the long pose - turquoise, my favorite color. And her hair was "twisted" up. It was a crowded in the studio, I painted behind two other artists, there was only a small area I could peek through to see the model. I complained a couple of times, just because those two artists moved a little bit and blocked my view. After our afternoon session was done, I realized that the colors I used were too saturated. And several artists stayed for the evening session. We brought our dinner boxes for a simple meal. There was full house in the evening session too, her ballerina posses were lovely. And she looked tired. Enjoyed painting and drawing her.  (May 24 2022)

One 3-hour session portrait study in oil. Our new model was Polish , She told us that she looked like her Russian grandmother. Working on a used 12"x16" panel. The 1st picture was taken outdoors. I continued to use duotone for the portrait, and my first time to feel happy for the result surprisingly. (April 12 2022)

  We all love this model, she was fun and happy. Most of models look sleepy or tired after an hour or two, she was always smile or laughing. If we weren't struggling painting, might want to know what she was thinking of. She must be a very positive person. (March 24 and March 31 2022) I knew that I should highlight a little bit after the 2 sessions. This 16"x20" figurative panel sat on a stool in my kitchen for weeks.  Finally I did a little retouch, though it might be need more, but I thought it could be finished up right now...  (April 11 2022)

April 5 happened to be Tomb Sweeping Day on the Chinese Calendar. In our culture, people usually go to visit their ancestors' tomb with flowers and clean off the dust. No one can get visas to travel home, and our visas were no longer valid in China because of COVID 19. I haven't visited my in family almost three years. I decided to paint at Hakone Gardens Japanese Garden in Saratoga.  There were many cars already parked at the entry to the place next to the Big Basin Way.  Quickly I parked my car at the last available space, because there was limited parking near by the entrance. My instinct was right, but I had to roll my painting stuff up the hill to the entrance.  My legs felt sore and I felt short of breath for walking up there with all my painting stuff.  There were so many people, more than 95% of them were Asian, I guessed that it was free day, and many people could not go to sweep their ancestors' tombs.  Not sure how my ancestors thought about me and re...

We painted our favorite model Grace outdoors today. It was warm in the morning, she was dressed up and cover up like traveling back in the centuries. Less than 3 hours, I painted as fast I could, my work station fell down, my brush, oil media and terpenoid were all over the ground. I knew that our painting time was limited, so I picked up the brushes, continued to paint the impressionist style in duotone It was a good study! (March 30 2022)

We had this new model I missed the first session, had to catch up to paint this portrait in three hours. She sat stable, had a little Mona Lisa smile kind of expression on her face. Continued to painting in duotone, might touch up later. (March 22 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)