Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Bugs like my watercolors in spring... lol. I didn't know about this park till today. Still under 60 degrees out, not a warm day. Felt like somewhere in China all of a sudden. Lucky me not only have so many friends all over the world supporting my art every day, and also my family members helped and delivered a couple of new 140b big and small watercolor blocks which were made in Holland, and a new watercolor palette with 17 wells from China. I used a couple of new watercolor paints I ordered online. Hadn't gotten to used them yet. Anyway, keep practicing... I don't usually paint for using all the tricks, today's painting I used some sea salt on the tree area, wanted to express the spring blossom feeling, but the sea salt I used not absorbed properly

Gorgeous and warm day. Painted at Saratoga Heritage Orchard next to the library. Finally spring came, though there was frost on roof this morning. Beautiful apricot and cherry trees just start blooming. I have allergies and have to cover myself well outdoors. Some nice people came by to talk to me while I was painting. Thought I could paint more than one, but the allergies had made me tired... Please view this video I made that there was a coyote there before I started painting in the morning.

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...

First time I came to this park. Unfortunately, the road inside the park was closed. There was too much rain recently, I guess. I didn't want to give it up though so I found a neighborhood that looked interesting to paint on the outside road. That was what I did today, not easy in a gray day though. Usually I would bring the masking fluid and salt. I didn't have them with me today so I had to paint carefully. But I am not sure if I like the result. Only thing that I'm sure of is to keep doing it.

It was a gray, cold and rainy day. Went to a local artist's house for painting. It was a beautiful property with gorgeous landscaping. Hard to make a decision where to paint... Painted from this angle, I could imagine if it were a sunny day, the light and shadows could make a big difference. My watercolor refused to dry, so I had to stop... And we had a delicious lunch there. Thanks very much for such great hospitality!

First time painting at the Winchester Mystery House, San Jose, CA. I've passed by it countless times, never thought it was an interesting place to paint. Actually, not only it was worth a visit, it is also a beautiful spot - a gorgeous mansion surrounded by lovely landscape. It was cold in the morning, but the light and shadows in winter had become unique shapes and contrasts. I would like to go back to paint again as today, I didn't paint the main building.

Cold early morning, about 35 degrees, went to the South Bay Yacht Club for outdoor painting. I always love to paint boats. But I painted a landscape today instead, just because we rarely see snowy mountains in Silicon Valley. Felt like I was painting somewhere else. I will go back to that location to paint boats other days for sure.

My last one on the last day of the Strada Easel 31 Day January painting challenge. Yes, I did paint every day, and finished 27( 8"x 6") Garden Still-life Series, plus 4 (11"x 14")landscapes. Not sure how do the other artists feel about it? But it was a great help to me as a self-taught artist, my first time to focusing on a series and painting from life each day, mostly outdoors. I could not imagine after leaving my painting comfort zone that I would draw or paint so many still-life during such a short time period, and it was a big challenge to me! So I think to keep learning, practicing, growing, creating and improving are the goals for my artwork.

Time management day. Didn't prepare to go out Plein Air. In the morning decided to see Sue Johnston's demo in Pleasanton. Thought it was a nice place to Plein Air. So started packing my outdoor painting stuff. There was only an hour before the demo after I arrived. Didn't have enough time to paint, so walked around in the Downtown Pleasanton, took photos for the future painting ideas. Went to the Demo, had learned some nice tips from Sue. She did a wonderful watercolor demo. It was lucky that the traffic was not bad on the way home. Jumped into my backyard, painted this succulent till it was getting dark. Didn't forget my frog, can you see he was smiling? But I was tired.

This is today's effort on my garden series. My first time using alcohol on my work, didn't show anything like the other artists'. How strange? Spring is really here, I couldn't stop sneezing while painting in the backyard. Unfortunately, that means my allergy season, which usually effects my body about half a year. I couldn't enjoy spring outdoors as much as most others; hiding indoors, shutting all the windows... I guess that it is the better time to me working in my studio now. But I didn't forget to express the spring feeling into my succulent painting.

I'd love to share my study with others, it is about an artist's journey of experimentation. I am not a a realistic painter, I love to express my own feeling into my work. That is why painting a photo is boring to me. Anyway, because I have joined the Strada January challenge, I paint every day. I know that it is the rainy season now, so my succulents are the series subject I choose to practice. I am struggling every day only drawing, and the colors are difficult to express. Each small work has taken me longer time to finish, and I've spent more time to study on my plants as well. I guess that is what making progress is all about. I've collected many succulents. Of those, only a few I can remember the names. Most of them are easy to take care of, though some of them have died, not sure if it was my fault, or because of the weather.

Lovely weather on Sunday, painted this cacti in my backyard. I think that it is called a cucumber succulent. Continuing painting one series is not very easy. But we all know that artists have to practice each day to become better ones. And since I want to get better, I have to find a my own way to get myself into one kind of subject study. Wish me luck please!

"A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are." -- Unknown Saturday at Pacifica. Gorgeous sky and the ocean, painted near the Pier. Heard a familiar voice, surprised to see a couple of my long time no see friends. Their kids are off to college now so they have a little more time for themselves. The rest of the afternoon and evening we tried to catch up, and they took us to see the beautiful San Francisco night view on the top of twin peaks.

Today I continued painting the garden series worked on design. This succulent was blue color, it looked very interesting when the light and the shadows there. Of courses the light was gone after I had finished it.

What I like is the winter light that makes the shadows longer and bigger, gives a dramatic look. Sunny day, I still felt cold standing in the shade and painting outdoors. Today I painted this sick succulent in my backyard, which I had been watching for a while, not sure how long I could have it. I didn't want to paint the hanging chain in too much detail, the focal point was the plant. Good benefits of painting at home or nearby are don't need to waste time on the road and paint familiar things or environments.

Gorgeous sunny day, painted in the backyard. It was so cold, and I had to put more cloths on, changed to wear my warm boots too. What I worked on was the contrast between the light and shadows. Winter light is precious, it passes very quick. I found out that there were certain patterns of the succulent growing interestingly, and I had spent an hour working on... Realized that too much detail only made my small size painting looked messy after I did. So I had to erase most of them. Good exercise with a good lesson to me today.

Beautiful day, but only stayed at home cleaned up my studio spending most of the day today, before Lunar New Year. Just realized how much I had done. Now, I got an answer why I was always busy, and felt that there was not much room left too... lol. Before getting too dark, I did a quick watercolor sketch in the backyard.

Quite dramatic weather today, windy, raining, sunny, cloudy... I know that I can not paint well some days. This was one of those days, no matter how hard I tried, everything seemed not in a right direction. Well, hoping tomorrow is a better day!

Nice and warm day, really felt like spring. Saw this common plant which I don't know the name of next to a parking lot nearby. I was attracted by the light and shadows. Also there were many different colors I don't know how to describe it in written language, so I had to paint it using my visual language.

Not raining today. The sun even came out in the afternoon. I spent an hour to clean up the back yard since my back had improved a lot. I painted nearby in the neighborhood, used wet into wet technique. It felt warm and like spring coming. I expressed my feeling into today's exercise.