Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Our favorite model Leigh brought a bench, a stool, decorative stand, a backpack of clothing, an umbrella, a large folding fan and a huge pot of live plants. There were several trips back forth between her car and the studio. And she is never late, actually she always arrives earlier. One of the artists said that she was hired for a three-day workshop, she had been drawing and painting her four days in a row. Can you imaging that? Leigh was a professional ballerina in the San Francisco Ballet, her poses are stable and she always had her costume well prepared. How could she not be our favorite model.  (August 31 2022)

Attended the evening short pose live model sketch practice again after three weeks. Definitely my brain and hands were not as coordinately as quick as before. After a while I was getting a little bit better. New model's poses were nice, and she was stable too. (August 16 2022)

For some reason I had to force myself to go painting. After arriving, I felt much better just being inside the studio with others. My first time to paint her, beautiful black skin, and she is a good model. One of the artists tipped her a hundred dollar bill after this session. I regret that I didn't paint her on the first session, I won't able to finish it.  (July 7 2022)

Arrived at the studio on time, there were a lot of people there already.  But different artists had different opinions about the model's pose.  Of course they had their reasons, color, lighting, a good angle to see the model, or to avoid being blocked by someone in front.  It took more than 10 minutes before the model was settled.  She wasn't a new model, but it was my first time to study on her.  I was trying my own way to paint, which was new to me.  I stopped painting this way for a while, just because of influence from others in the studio.  I never had classical art training, but I have my own way to be creative.  There is never  enough time, I realized that my work had a little proportion issue after the session was over.  Shall I correct it next session, or shall I start a new one? Always like the short pose session, even if it is in the evening.  Tonight's model was an Indian American guy.  he was a good model.  We all love his poses, not sure why I had a difficult

Not sure why I could not get myself motivated, the laziness was all over my mind and body. Some of my works are half way done, I keep reminding myself that I should fix or finish them... Day by day I sink into the sofa, barely move around, and found all kinds of excuses for myself to do nothing. Till I noticed that I had gained a couple pounds again. It makes a big difference for me - each time I gain weight, I loose motivation. After Memorial Day, I started doing exercise again, dragged myself to the art center studio and took the second long pose session of the same live model to finish this portraiture. And I continued on to the evening short pose session. Found my arm even hard to reach where I wanted to draw. Unbelievable that only few ponds could cause so much unwillingness all over me. But glad I did it! (May 31 2022)

Our first time to paint this new model Melisa today. I started with a used 12"x16" canvas.  One artist friend mentioned to me that she would be confused working on uncovered used canvas.  I felt OK, and tried to paint with new style after not working at the studio about two weeks. My speed and correction were not as good as two weeks ago.  The painting wasn't near finished after 3-hour-session.  (May 10 2022)  Spent two or three hours or more fixing this portrait.  Tried to work like expressionist with black outlines, sometimes using a palette knife.  Hard to paint with consistency, in the studio and at home.  I had to stop before I changed too much from my original idea.  That was challenging working at home without a model, I decided to leave the arm area the way it was, lucky it was used canvas, the colors  matched well...

I was away for eight nights in May, missed several portraiture practice sessions in the studio. We were quite lucky to have Leigh back for our afternoon long post and evening short pose model. She dressed up in an evening gown with matching jewelry for the long pose - turquoise, my favorite color. And her hair was "twisted" up. It was a crowded in the studio, I painted behind two other artists, there was only a small area I could peek through to see the model. I complained a couple of times, just because those two artists moved a little bit and blocked my view. After our afternoon session was done, I realized that the colors I used were too saturated. And several artists stayed for the evening session. We brought our dinner boxes for a simple meal. There was full house in the evening session too, her ballerina posses were lovely. And she looked tired. Enjoyed painting and drawing her.  (May 24 2022)

One 3-hour session portrait study in oil. Our new model was Polish , She told us that she looked like her Russian grandmother. Working on a used 12"x16" panel. The 1st picture was taken outdoors. I continued to use duotone for the portrait, and my first time to feel happy for the result surprisingly. (April 12 2022)

We were all ready, but the model hadn't arrived yet.  So the organizer asked for two people there to be temporary models.  Our model was African American female tonight, she lives in Oakland, and must have been in bad traffic for arriving 30 minutes late. When she started her pose, wow, each one was so inspiring.  Just a great model for sketching. Elegant lines and her poses were so interesting and dynamic.  Wish could have her more often. (April 19 2022)

  We all love this model, she was fun and happy. Most of models look sleepy or tired after an hour or two, she was always smile or laughing. If we weren't struggling painting, might want to know what she was thinking of. She must be a very positive person. (March 24 and March 31 2022) I knew that I should highlight a little bit after the 2 sessions. This 16"x20" figurative panel sat on a stool in my kitchen for weeks.  Finally I did a little retouch, though it might be need more, but I thought it could be finished up right now...  (April 11 2022)

April 5 happened to be Tomb Sweeping Day on the Chinese Calendar. In our culture, people usually go to visit their ancestors' tomb with flowers and clean off the dust. No one can get visas to travel home, and our visas were no longer valid in China because of COVID 19. I haven't visited my in family almost three years. I decided to paint at Hakone Gardens Japanese Garden in Saratoga.  There were many cars already parked at the entry to the place next to the Big Basin Way.  Quickly I parked my car at the last available space, because there was limited parking near by the entrance. My instinct was right, but I had to roll my painting stuff up the hill to the entrance.  My legs felt sore and I felt short of breath for walking up there with all my painting stuff.  There were so many people, more than 95% of them were Asian, I guessed that it was free day, and many people could not go to sweep their ancestors' tombs.  Not sure how my ancestors thought about me and rest of overse

We all love this ballerina model, her pose was amazing!  She not only brought her tutu and point shoes for posing outfit, and brought us her inspiration.  I enjoyed drawing her, wish we could see her again soon. (March 29 2022)

We had one of our favorite model doing short pose to night, beautiful African American professional figure. Though I was tired, but was inspired by each of her pose  (March 22 2022)

We painted our favorite model Grace outdoors today. It was warm in the morning, she was dressed up and cover up like traveling back in the centuries. Less than 3 hours, I painted as fast I could, my work station fell down, my brush, oil media and terpenoid were all over the ground. I knew that our painting time was limited, so I picked up the brushes, continued to paint the impressionist style in duotone It was a good study! (March 30 2022)

We had this new model I missed the first session, had to catch up to paint this portrait in three hours. She sat stable, had a little Mona Lisa smile kind of expression on her face. Continued to painting in duotone, might touch up later. (March 22 2022)

There were two female live models that did a short-pose tonight. Of course it was more challenging to draw them together in minutes, and had to pay attention for the relationship between them. Felt quite tired, not sure if it because of the time changing.  (March 15 2022)

We had a nice model today, and I purposely got a very end spot to paint her from the back. Unfortunately, she was set up under a red light, and purple cloth covered the chair, felt like in a red light district. I continued to paint by using duotone, only using a 12"x16" panel. She won't be back next session so this is it. (March 3 2022)

We had a new model from Santa Cruz tonight. I found that it was not easy to do the figure study, not sure if the lighting system wasn't professional enough, but her skin tone or body details were hard to capture. Checked out of other's work, they told me the same.  We all agreed that we must keep practicing to get a better brain, eyes and hands connection.  Because there isn't time for thinking during the short pose.(March 1 2022)

After a 3-hour session of portrait study, continued to attend another 3-hour session of figurative drawing. Felt starving and tired…(February 22 2022 )

Today's study was our favorite model Grace.  Not only had we prepared many costumes for her, one of the artists prepared many other things for her like a dress, hair bands, pillow, cloth for different backdrops or covers. I helped her to unload those, took many rounds back forth from car to the studio.  she helped Grace to dress up and styled her hair too.  A couple of master oil painters came from over one to three hours driving distance.  Very precious to paint with them, enjoyed watching what they paint from their perspective. One hour break for lunch, and we continued painting.  Many paintings came out fresh and very beautiful, not mine, I guess it is the process of learning... (February 16 2022)