Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Sun came out after weeks of rain.  I went to one of my favorite spots to Plein Air, Chris' Farm in Campbell.  Painted at the same location several times already, but I went there in the afternoon today.   There were many interesting subjects there, and also it was not far from where I lived.  The antique van and an old delivery truck were facing different directions.  Quickly I had my drawing down and started to laying down some colors.   Might be it was because it was afternoon, but it was not as quiet as it was used to be there. Cars driving and parking, people passing by or bicycling... Nice to hear several compliments.  Sun went down fast and the temperature got colder.  It was the time to leave, and I did enjoy being outdoors again working. (February 22 2024)

Good news to share for the coming up holidays, my figurative oil painting "Diary of Venus" won the 1st place in oil, juried by Pancho Jimenez at Great Bay Area Open (GBAO) "Potentiality/Actuality" biennial exhibition in the NUMU museum Los Gatos. There are many great works created by Bay Area based artists and the exhibition is open to the public at NUMU museum in Los Gatos until March 9 2024. I took a break from painting outdoors after Capitola Plein Air event. Of course I still paint at my home studio. Gorgeous day here in winter, it looked like fall. Though it was only 59 degrees, I felt warm in the sun. All foliage showing autumn leaf colors like yellow, orange, red, purple, and brown, which contrasted the blue sky and other plants of green were everywhere. It was great to go out and paint a day before the rainy season starts. Drove to Sunnyvale and the Heritage Park Orchard jumped into my mind. I think it is always inspiring when I drive on streets named af

After weeks of rain, our weather is getting warmer and clear, spring is on the way.  Very happy to start my first Plein Air of the Year. I didn't set up my spot, just thought to follow whatever caught my eye. Didn't drive too far, and I couldn't help myself to stop at the orchard next to the Campbell Seventh-day Adventist Church.  I just love this unique place.  It's hard to believe that it still hasn't been developed into a new condos.   Felt warm in the sun.  Set up my equipment, looked through the chicken wire fences, and started with a small sketch on a pad, then on my regular Fabriano Artistico 140 lb Cold Press watercolor paper.  I decided to "relocate" the truck for a new layout. During the painting, a truck stopped in front of my view.  A young guy started taking photos.  Being a Plein Air painter, you must make decisions quickly depending on the situation when unexpected things happen.  So I decided to let him know that he blocked what I was work

Just realized that I hadn't gone out painting for a week this morning - too much figurative study in studio. Also my annual allergies have started acting up again. Didn't go too far. I found this greenhouse tent a long time ago and today I got to paint it. After my stuff was set up, I saw two older ladies walking toward me, and the language they were speaking sounded like Russian. I said "Hello" and asked them if they were Russian. They responded that yes they were. Their faces were so interesting, instantly I thought they both could be our portrait models. I dug out my business card and passed it to one of the ladies, and told them that we could pay them if they wanted to be our models. I didn't really understand what she said, but she mentioned her daughter and her hands gestured throwing the business card away. Hahaha, I hope she does contact me and they can be models for us. I really only mean to paint their portraits. (February 18 2022)

Today was a lovely day, especially outdoors, there was no wind and it was gorgeous weather. Met friends and painted together at this nice location. Beautiful yellow mustard plants were already blooming, apricot trees didn't even have buds or leaves. We could see a church in the distance, and we all used our hatchback doors as umbrellas to make shade for painting. The church bell rang once an hour, the peacefulness made me wonder if I were in the countryside somewhere in Europe. Hahaha, miss travelling a lot...(February 10 2022)

Went to the Sunnyvale Heritage Park orchard, it is always fun to drive through the local streets, those are named with some of the greatest visual artists and musicians in  history. Robbia, Michelangelo, Rembrandt, Manet, Monet, Matisse, Picasso, Rousseau, Sargent, Romberg; Mozart, Choppin, Puccini, Offenbach, etc.. What a great way to be inspired and review history. Two years ago I painted here, while the workers were drying apricots. It looked like they were working on the apricots today. And I found out the barn was more appealing today after reading the sign on the wall: " The Bianchi Bros. barn was constructed circa 1918 on Capitol Ave and Hostetter Road in San Jose and has been in continuous use since that time. It is a good example of the classic American barn with its unpretentious vernacular architecture. Barns are one of a rare handful of symbols that immediately evoke our national heritage and their honesty provides a strong regional identity to our agricultural p

Didn't go out to avoid the spring pollination. There was a watercolor group painting out this morning, I didn't want to miss it. But my eyes were super itchy, and my nose running like crazy while driving to the location... There are hundreds fruit trees blooming now, so were the mustard plant next to the library. Looked gorgeous, and it was a beautiful day! I almost gave up by driving past, then made a U-turn. I turned into a small road, and it was the parking lot of a preschool next to the orchard. There was a creek in between the orchard and the school. Got out of my car, saw the blooming trees in the distance and found this new spot to paint. Not too much pollen there to bother me either. Hasn't been much rain since the end of last year, the creek was dry. Happy to be out and able to paint, though I didn't meet a single person, hahaha...

Planned to paint the cows I saw last week.  Drove all the way to the location, and disappointed to find them so far away from the road, hardly to be seen.  Learned my lesson, just paint the first sight that inspires me, don't hesitate next time. Nearby Palm Ave, I saw yellow mustard flowers blooming under the fruit trees at the orchard.  Charming and typical early spring landscape in California.  So I painted that but removed the barn from my work today.  Another day of practice! (February 23 2022  )

Silicon valley is famous for high tech and multi-cultural for sure. It was only 37 degrees in the morning, I really didn't want to go out. After a short hesitation, I drove to the location again, not far from where I live. There are many streets named after the greatest masters near the orchard. I turned into Manet Dr, turned to Michelangelo Dr, passed by Rembrandt, Picasso, Matisse, Sargent, Chopin, etc... I wonder why and who decided to name all the streets? Anyway, felt instantly inspired and started my painting. To me, the process of creating art is my meditation. Following my feeling and inner visual voice are more important queues than painting what is exactly in front of my eyes. So I concentrated on my work... "Your painting looks nice!". I jumped and almost screamed, an Indian lady wearing a Sari behind me said so, and I scared her away. Than we apologized to each other, started laughing... Later, a softer voice in a Japanese accent , "Do you come here to

Super foggy morning usually means a nice sunny day here. All the apricot trees are blooming yet, only started having buds. Seeing tree branches in winter is one of my favorite things, believe it or not. Even better to paint them here. My half-year allergy just started recently. Yesterday saw Tim Saternow's demo. Planned to try some tips he shared with us. But my own painting habit was not easy to break. Will remember to try next time...

The Sunnyvale Heritage Park Museum is adjacent to the 10 acre Orchard Heritage Park where about 800 trees were laden with ripe delicious Blenheim apricots. I didn't know this lovely place until today. Seemed that there was a big harvest of apricots, there were a couple workers delivered buckets of apricots to the those were making dry apricot fruit by hands. It was very interesting watching the process while I was painting in the middle of Silicon Valley, hard to believe certain people still working in very traditional way here, like me in this high tech area. I must come back and paint again.