Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Another wonderful Monday morning doing sketching and listening to each person's story. Not everyone had a story about uniforms, but it was nice to see others and get to know them more each time we meet on Zoom. I still keep learning how to sketch and listen to the talking at the same time. I missed some part of the stories, just because my sketching brain and listening part are not connected well yet, but I enjoyed it a lot for sure.

Never thought I would love Mondays, but it has me changed after I started drawing with this group of friendly people on Zoom. Today our topic was pets. Everyone shared their stories. One lady had got an adopted shelter dog birthday present from her sister - a couple of month old Husky. We all felt she was so joyful and exhausted taking care of the new baby dog. Another guy shared his sad story that his beloved 15-years cat just past away. I really enjoy listening each of the stories, very hard to focus on drawing.

  (April 13 2021) My allergies bother me, but, could not help myself, got ambitious to paint nearby flowers today. This is not my usual subject, I have to wait another year to paint if I miss it this year. There are several hundred year old wisteria vines in bloom on the arbor designed for the 1822 Mission at the east side of the courtyard at mission Santa Clara. Plus more than ten different kinds of other plants, most were blooming super beautiful this time. I found a corner spot in the morning, lighting was perfect. A couple of years ago I painted here in oils. I needed to test my new Fabriano Artisco watercolor paper. After my small sketch, I drew carefully on this newer version softer paper, didn't feel much difference. Then I was cautiously starting applying watercolors to it. Seemed like it doesn't allow me to make mistakes anymore. Might just be my "psychology issue". So far this new paper works fine for me... Hope it never cause trouble.

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.  

Sister Wendy Beckett (born 25 February 1930) is a Catholic nun, who was born in South Africa and educated in Oxford where she was awarded a first class degree in English literature. She has lived a life of solitude for almost thirty years on the grounds of a monastery in England. I never knew about Sister Wendy until I started painting in 2001. Our local library carries a very decent amount of books and DVDs. So, I go there and check them out often, I have found many art resources. I did not pay too much attention to the stories behind each masterpiece before. I was more interested in learning the composition or techniques, etc. One day, I saw Sister Wendy on a cover of a DVD in the art section and just out of curiosity I brought it back home to watch. That was the most remarkable experience I had ever had. I was totally moved by her eloquence and charm, her profound spirit, her passion in art, her rich knowledge and outstanding description of sharing her views on each masterpiece

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