Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Besides being caught in not surprising traffic on U.S. Route 101 as usual, it was a nice breezy morning at the location. Walked around and instantly decided to paint those sailboats parked there. Might Be that I didn't paint enough boats at the event in Alameda, it was only ten days ago. It meant that I was physically recovered from exhausted. As an artist, I think that it is very important to be creative. So I decided not to paint all the boats parking in a row, and "moved" the warehouse building behind the three boats I painted. The composition of this painting looked better than exactly what was in front of my eyes. Saw several other artists painted there as well. Only talked a few, they seemed to all have found what they wanted to paint. (August 15 2024)

We always have an "Indian Summer" and it has been hot days for weeks. I decided to go to the Port because there was a subject I wanted to paint at the same spot, but from a different angle. I set up my work station and started on the drawing, which took me a little longer to finish. Because I wanted to try a different color palette, I hesitated to start. Also, there was only one boat next to the dock when I was here before, but many were parked there this morning. I have been thinking to use fewer colors for a long time, my first time to give it a try. The result seemed OK, better than I expected. Basically I wanted to focus on the value of the scene. It was getting windy around noon, and I finished up my work and packed up. Walked a bit around the port and discovered more subjects to paint. I will be back again for sure. (August 16 2023)

It was a nice day, but quite windy at the shore. Fortunately, I found a big tree to block the wind, and it worked very well. As I painted, a lady with her very sweet ten-year-old dog passed by and said Hi. The dog was friendly and didn't want to leave. I really wanted to pet her dog, but I knew that some paints are not good for animals and I had my rubber gloves on. So, I stopped and just watched them while chatting with the lady. After finishing the drawing, I hesitated on where to start with my work on the boats. Feeling a bit stuck, I decided to change to a bigger brush and covered the small details, then worked backwards to find the detail again. It looked better than when I started. As the wind grew stronger, it was time to go home. Last year, before the Alameda Plein Air Event, I painted at the Port of Redwood City. Unfortunately, I missed the application deadline this year, so I won't be able to attend it. (July 27, 2023)

Redwood City Port seems like a perfect location for practicing painting on a windy day. A year ago I painted at the location a couple of times. It was windy in the afternoon. I found a short tree to paint under to block a little wind. Took me almost an hour to finish the drawing. I tried to paint the kayak, but it was removed from the people working there. Lucky I had my reference photo. Not sure why I love painting fishing boats Later the owner of the boat next to it came to me, he took a photo and wanted me to paint his boat someday... Rushed to the drawing class...(July 26 2022) I have to get ready for the Annual Alameda Plein Air event, so I drove to the Campbell Community Center to practice, but I didn't know what to paint. Walked around and saw the Campbell Pool, then I knew it would be a good subject to practice. Found a corner and set up my stuff. For the composition purposes, I had to "move" and "reset" several little details. It wasn't a...

Today I was supposed to meet up and paint with other artists near the La Honda Open Space Preserve parking lot #22. But there were several road work construction projects on the way, not mention it was a narrow curvy road, and bike people were on the same road too. Not sure if the Google map or my car GPS wasn't clear on the directions, but I got lost many times before around #280 and in the mountains etc. not today. I knew I was late, so I decided to paint at a red barn that was on the way, which I wanted to paint it for years. Painted under my hatchback for a little bit shade, looked through the fence to the red barn, I was a little bit short to see the whole scene. And discover a died dead deer's body, poor thing, felt sorry about it... Weather was 10 degree cooler, about 70. I've painted many barns, today I painted it smaller and focused on the landscape instead of architecture. Though I didn't meet the others, I was peacefully painting alone by using a high ...

Four Chinese artists including me decided to go out and Plein Air together. In the morning it looked like a gorgeous sunny day from where I live. Drove into the park though and it became super-foggy and mysterious. There were two trees that looked very familiar, I realized that I painted at this location before and that today wasn't my first visit. We painted nearby the parking lot, which was a different prospective. Also shared our ideas to help each other improve the painting. The sun came out before we left the park. (January 20 2022)

Gorgeous day after many days of high heat. Decided to go back and paint an unfinished subject. There was some construction going on at the port. Always something new to freshen my mind, than had to change my mind to this beautiful red boat, that a guy was working on or maybe cleaning it. It started breezy, but the wind was getting stronger near noon. I hesitated whether adding some darker ocean blue was needed in the foreground of my painting till the very end. Because of countless times failing, I was afraid to do so. Finally, I added the darker color, my painting instantly looked better with depth. Took a deep breath and headed back home. (September 1 2021) August 17, I didn't manage time well to finish this one, rushed to go a birthday party...

Drove to the location, walked around in the morning. Felt I could be here and paint more often, and excited to discover a new place to paint boats that isn't too far from me, compared to other piers in Bay Area. There were many geese nearby the port, they looked like they are living there peacefully. But there was too much poo everywhere. So I decided not to paint nearby them today. Found a sailboat to work on. It was a little windy and I hadn't painted boat for a while.  Not a smooth day, and not a easy subject, will be back to practice for sure... In the end, I tried to find a restroom to use. An older guy very cautiously guided me to the other side of the building but none of them were open. Luckily it was lunch time, I asked for help from a lady working inside office with the door open. She lead me back to the other building to use the restroom. I thought that everything is back to normal started on June 15 today, but seemed the facilities are not ready to the public y...

Jan 10  Yesterday, Saturday I went to paint @ this beautiful location and met a new painting friend in the afternoon. It was close to sunset time and wasn't warm. My watercolor paper refused to dry. But the scene was magnificent! After I got home, the paper was still wet. Learned not to paint outdoors under certain degrees temperature for sure. So, I stayed at home and joined a zoom "portrait party" today. Several drawings I did and shared here, they were all minutes sketch starting with one minute only, great to practice.