Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Gorgeous day for outdoor paintings. While I was drawing, a train was running on the railway, I took short video. I didn't know how many cars the train carried, but it ran at least ten minutes long. Struggling with the layout, and the details of the historic train I was painting. Came home I realized that I didn't need that much. Just cropped it, and it looked much better. And would you believe, I found some charming artwork in the public bathroom. Several years ago I went to this historic charming town for Plein Air. Walked around and found a good spot to set up my painting station, then found out I didn't bring any paper at all. LOL, had to go home... (October 24 2022)

2020 Day8 What a busy day staying at home! Thought about how to create an auspicious work for the upcoming Chinese Lunar New Year - the Year of Rat. Actually I had been thinking about it since last Christmas. I used to be very good and fast when I worked as a graphic/web designer a long time ago... I had forgotten how much I had to go through with the design process, it made my head ache. Focused on the limited items I had, using traditional colors, meaningful symbols, and symmetrical layout. I enlarged an ancient coin, which means prosperity, wrote Fu, Lu, Shou and Xi, those mean Luck, Prosperity, Longevity and Happiness on the coin in an ancient writing style. I only had one little rat, so I drew one, then flipped it to draw it again on the other side, made them look like they are communicating to each other by changing the shapes slightly, so one looks like a male, the other a female. They could be a couple, lovers or love at first sight. My most challenging part was to draw tw

"Thousands of candles can be lit from a single candle, and the life of the candle will not be shortened. Happiness never decreases by being shared." - Buddha (Please click the image to enlarge) This true story really touches me, so I'v decided to share it with the people who create art or love art. Photography is not my main purpose, being an independent artist I've taken many photos for my painting references everywhere I go for owning the copyrights. This was one of photos I took at a temple in San Francisco a couple years ago. Lights are Yang energy in FengShui. I thought it was positive, auspicious, and posted it on my website to share. Two month ago, I received a message from a friend on Facebook: "Hi Xueling, I need some professional advice. Here is the story, My sweet daughter, Alyssa Tabit, lives in LA. Last October she went with her boyfriend to Ohio for a wedding. We received a devastating call on the morning of October 7th. Our daughter

We all know that Greece is home to the first advanced civilizations in Europe and is considered the birthplace of Western civilization. We only spent 10 days in Greece during May, traveled from Athens to Create, Santorini, Mykonos, Delos, and Tinos Islands. It was too short, almost everything we experienced there made us fall love with this beautiful old country. Everywhere we went that we met nice and helpful people. They are proud of their culture and very generous to share with tourists. We love eating at the local restaurants. Once we had a chance to chat with the local people, we found they were not very happy with their current politics and told us in English "We are not poor, our business is doing OK. Most of us have owned more than two or three nice houses, our government is poor". We didn't meet anyone that tried to sell any products to us, instead they helped us find directions, offer to drive us back to hotel after mid-night, introduced their delicious foo

Carmen is commonly reputed as the most popular opera ever written. The story is about a Spanish soldier Don José who falls passionately in love with a beautiful Gypsy woman Carmen. José abandons his childhood sweetheart and deserts from his military duties, yet loses Carmen's love to the glamorous toreador Escamillo, after which José kills her in a jealous rage. The depictions of proletarian life, immorality and lawlessness, and the tragic death of the main character on stage. I was moved by the music and so shocked by this tragic love story... I always wanted to express this drama, but how could I create art piece differently than others? So many of them as well... It was very challenge for sure! I knew that I would love to express the rhythm of the music through a flamenco dancer, as well as showing the passion and bravery, also the bull fighting, and the death... Finally, I've finished creating this painting after three-month period time (studied and painted over and o

Magpies are believed to be one of the most intelligent of all animals. In Chinese culture, the magpie is an auspicious bird (the opposite of the crow) which has been depicted in art and literature for thousands of years of history. Magpies appear in the most happy events, representing positive energy for new years celebrations, festivals, birthdays, marriages, anniversaries, and any good news, etc.. I designed "Magpie Singing at the Bath" by adding many auspicious symbolic items, like bamboo (longevity, the spirit of scholars), water(prosperity, opportunity, wealth), and full moon (joyful reunion, especially for family and lovers) against the auspicious red/orange colors in the background expressing good luck, or good news coming from hearing the singing of a magpie, or even better seeing one. February 10, 2012 is the first day of lunar year of the Snake. Chinese usually begin the day by offering prayers and welcoming the gods of heaven and earth. Everyone tries to get there

Last time when I visited Sydney, Australia, I saw this red-haired young lady on the train going downtown carrying a very large brunch of gardenias, she was almost buried by the flowers she carried, they brought such a lovely fragrance surrounding her on the train. http://xueling-zou.artistwebsites.com/galleries.html Luckily, she was looking outside of the window, so I could study her from where I sat: Her red dress was a tiny bit longer than the short black unbuttoned-wind-jacket she was wearing. Her short red hair was contrasted by the collar of her black jacket, her two lean and long legs were positioned gently and femininely on the blue covered seat... I realized that this was not the main reason to grab my attention. From my artistic vision it was the beauty of the whole package - youth, color contrast, simplicity, freshness, sweetness, dreaming... full of life, maybe some mysterious reason too since I had no idea who she was! Finally, I painted her for sharing what I had see

I am so thankful and happy to share my art and my stories with you! May your wishes and New Year's dreams come true!!! I have sent a Holiday Greeting to my mail list, including a 25% discount code if you want to purchase any print from my art work at http://xueling-zou.artistwebsites.com/ . To the people are not on my mail list, you can simply enter " CVSJCD " if you want to get 25% off any my print till December 31, 2011. Thank you!!