Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Went to the same location again. Started with a small sketch, the drawing took me much longer to finish. It was breezy at the marina first, sooner it was getting a little bit windy than I couldn't handle it well. Geese were happy there, a guy was feeding them bread, though I was told that one should not feed the wildlife. Well, they needed more food to grow and fly back to Canada I thought. Kids were excited to learn how to sail. I felt cold in the wind, and had to put on the extra jacket that I brought. Couldn't get the fine lines of the rigging details with all the wind. So retouched it at home.  {June 23 2021}

Beautiful day in the 70s, painted at Redwood City Marina again. All the kids started earlier than me for their summer sailing lessons. Geese were happily enjoying eating the grass nearby. I found a shady spot and painted. Focused my practice on the clouds and remembered to take photos of my progress step by step for some friends' requests. Before I wrapped up, a large group of geese had almost occupied the area where I was standing. They were waiting patiently and watching for their leader's signal I guessed.  The adults were standing still, at the same time, some of the youngest geese in the group were eating or resting with their mothers watching over them very carefully, especially the ones that were very close to me. Will be back soon... (June 22 2021)

2020 Day10 "You don't learn to walk by following rules. You learn by doing, and by falling over." -- Richard Branson Started a bit late. Each time I came here to paint boats, but not today. After one painting was done, the light and shadows made the same landscape dramatic, so I had to paint another one. It was cold after sun went down, the second one didn't work out the way I wanted, just because the Fabriano Artistico Extra White 140p Watercolor paper I used couldn't dry in such weather condition. I was inpatient and ruined it... Well, learned and try not to make the same mistake...

"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.

Do you trust your instant feeling? What a day! I didn't like the paintings I did in Capitola last Thursday, so I had to go again. I checked the weather a few times, wished it would be a lovely day in Capitola. In the morning, Google maps showed me that it would take extra 20 minutes, I thought there was some traffic. Then I realized that I chose to avoid high ways. It was OK, I saw something new through the small road in the Santa Cruz Mountains. It was gray when I arrived Capitola just as the weather reported. I walked around and checked a couple of locations I wanted to paint from last week. But they looked so different today, especially some people working on the roofs which were covered with dark plastic; last week I saw that there were beautiful palm trees and shadows on the brown roots I wanted to paint. And it started tiny drops of rain... I waited for a short while, walked and looked around, just didn't have any feeling to paint. Soon the rain disappeared. I though...