Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

🎨Santa Cruz landscape inspires me, especially when I sketch plein air 在海邊寫生😊.

This original watercolor painting was inspired by Ernest Hemingway's The Old Man and The Sea.  It is one of my favorite watercolors, and a great gift for Father's Day. (Please click the image to enlarge) I read this book in Chinese a long time ago, then I read it again in English when I was studying in Australia. Back to my overseas studying time, I had to take the ferries from the place I lived to school each day for a while. Not mention the terrible home sick I had, the ending of relationship with my first boy-friend, when I struggled with every single little detail in life. But nothing could stop my love of the ocean and I enjoyed taking ferries on beautiful and stormy days. Watching the sun-rising or sun-setting, sailing by the magnificent city landscape and the awesome boats out on the sea, I promised myself that I knew I would overcome the difficulties... Years later, I started painting watercolors after moving to Bay Area in California, and the first one in m

(Please click the image to enlarge) I didn't posted new paintings for a long time.  There were a couple paintings, but they didn't come out the way I expected.  Still I have many ideas I'd like to try.  Why the result wasn't come out the way I want... In March, an old friend introduced her friend to me online because the new friend is coming with her American husband, their daughter and a dog to settle down in Maui, Hawaii soon. Instantly, we found a major common that we both love art.  She started learning drawing many years ago too.  I saw she posted many beautiful photo-realistic drawings online.  Simply, I started to imagine how she would like the life style in Miami since she is Chinese from Shanghai, one of the biggest city in China. Then, I saw her post that she ran six kilometers one day.  What?  I am not a sporty person, to me it is impossible.  She told me that she was runner, used to win a couple of competitions when she was younger.  Also, she p