Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

We had high heat for a couple of weeks, so it was very pleasant day at the waterfront. I found a shady spot and painted the Lake boathouse. Actually, I had both Shoreline Lake American Bistro and the Lake Boathouse in my mind.  But the white tent looked more interesting and I thought I would paint the visiters in front of it arriving for kids' summer camp as well. During the time I drew it, I changed my mind, because it was getting complicated.  At the end, I tried to unzip my favorite outdoor painting jacket, but it was stuck.  Worn out I guess after using it for many years.  I had to ask for help from other artists.  Three ladies helped, but could not unzip.  Finally, one of the ladies suggested unzipping it from the bottom, so I was at least able to take it off.   (July 8 2024)

It was a nice day, and I painted with local artists at the location. I set up my workstation near a cabin where a summer camp employee was watching over the lake to keep the boaters safe. I used the cabin's shade to paint comfortably. The place was busy with many kids attending the summer camp, and they all seemed happy. I noticed some teenagers working there, not much older than the kids having fun. I overheard a seventeen-year-old boy telling others that he was going to join the Navy program for college. The others looked at him with envy and admiration. The boys in charge were young but behaved like adults, helping the kids enjoy sailing and giving them snacks. After finishing my painting, I walked around to see other artists' work. To my surprise, I saw Will painting there. I went to say Hi. I had met him last May during the Plein Air event in Carmel. He was nice and kind and encouraging of my work. He helped two other artists by making little corrections for them.  He spen...

After about a year, I went to Shoreline Park to paint again. It was a lovely day, and not warm, I had to have my down jacket on when I was painting. Surrounded by squirrels, geese and other birds, they were all very active. I discovered that I used wrong side of the watercolor paper at the end, guess I was distracted by all the animals' actions.  (March 19 2022)

I did a small sketch  back to a couple of weeks ago when I was at the same location, but didn't bring any watercolor paper. Went back to practice painting this old Victorian style house, the Rengstorff House which was one of the first houses to be built in Mountain View, California in 1867. Spent a lot of time working on the drawing, ended up to find out that I really didn't have to draw all the details on 14"x11" size paper for Plein air painting. But it was good exercise anyway by using very limited colors, besides it was a lovely day being outdoors.  (July 6 2021)

A gorgeous day, went to Shoreline Park to meet other watercolor artists and paint together. Arrived at the Rengstorff House, there was a graduation party going on. Found a shady spot, set up my work station, then I found out that I didn't bring any watercolor paper. Haha, I was wondering why my gear bag was a slightly lighter in weight this morning.  So, I only completed my sketch.   Came back home and decided to organize my art supplies a little bit, those always occupy so much space.  I needed to find out if I have to buy more materials for Alameda Paintout Event coming up in August.  I would have plenty of  time to order online learning from my previous lessons.  Surprised to see a couple of my very old sketches.  They brought back memories, some of them were the doodles of my commissioned works. One of those I wrote down in "7 2006".  It was hard to believe about fifteen years already.  I still had my job working back then....

Plein Air painters do not usually have such a lovely day painting at a peaceful location. Feeling luxurious, we sat down and painted on the table in the shade. Only I wanted to paint a different subject, the buoys on the wall. They looked so interesting and simple under morning light. Never tried and never knew that they were not as easy as they looked. Struggling through another day of practice.  

A red rowboat in the water near a tree at the shore caught my eyes, instantly decided to paint it. This was my third time painting here since I started Plein Air, I only painted in oils before. It reminded me that once I spent almost six hours working on a smaller size painting here on a very cold windy day. Today was gorgeous being outside, felt a little bit chilly in the shade. I enjoyed painting with another artist who inspired me, especially to get feedback in time when the work got stuck. The red boat was rowed away, I had to paint it follow my memory, lol... Used some opaque watercolors, my work looks different.