Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Time management day. Didn't prepare to go out Plein Air. In the morning decided to see Sue Johnston's demo in Pleasanton. Thought it was a nice place to Plein Air. So started packing my outdoor painting stuff. There was only an hour before the demo after I arrived. Didn't have enough time to paint, so walked around in the Downtown Pleasanton, took photos for the future painting ideas. Went to the Demo, had learned some nice tips from Sue. She did a wonderful watercolor demo. It was lucky that the traffic was not bad on the way home. Jumped into my backyard, painted this succulent till it was getting dark. Didn't forget my frog, can you see he was smiling? But I was tired.

This is today's effort on my garden series. My first time using alcohol on my work, didn't show anything like the other artists'. How strange? Spring is really here, I couldn't stop sneezing while painting in the backyard. Unfortunately, that means my allergy season, which usually effects my body about half a year. I couldn't enjoy spring outdoors as much as most others; hiding indoors, shutting all the windows... I guess that it is the better time to me working in my studio now. But I didn't forget to express the spring feeling into my succulent painting.

I'd love to share my study with others, it is about an artist's journey of experimentation. I am not a a realistic painter, I love to express my own feeling into my work. That is why painting a photo is boring to me. Anyway, because I have joined the Strada January challenge, I paint every day. I know that it is the rainy season now, so my succulents are the series subject I choose to practice. I am struggling every day only drawing, and the colors are difficult to express. Each small work has taken me longer time to finish, and I've spent more time to study on my plants as well. I guess that is what making progress is all about. I've collected many succulents. Of those, only a few I can remember the names. Most of them are easy to take care of, though some of them have died, not sure if it was my fault, or because of the weather.

Lovely weather on Sunday, painted this cacti in my backyard. I think that it is called a cucumber succulent. Continuing painting one series is not very easy. But we all know that artists have to practice each day to become better ones. And since I want to get better, I have to find a my own way to get myself into one kind of subject study. Wish me luck please!

"A friend is someone who understands your past, believes in your future, and accepts you just the way you are." -- Unknown Saturday at Pacifica. Gorgeous sky and the ocean, painted near the Pier. Heard a familiar voice, surprised to see a couple of my long time no see friends. Their kids are off to college now so they have a little more time for themselves. The rest of the afternoon and evening we tried to catch up, and they took us to see the beautiful San Francisco night view on the top of twin peaks.

Today I continued painting the garden series worked on design. This succulent was blue color, it looked very interesting when the light and the shadows there. Of courses the light was gone after I had finished it.

Finally I could not stand painting plants around the house and made a quick decision to go out Plein Air painting. 64 degrees and very warm at the Lighthouse Point. I did a sketch first, and painted at this location. I used a light weight tripod, it was not too windy, but my station was not stable enough. I had experience painting in different weather conditions, and so should not have any excuses. In the morning I thought that I would have two paintings done. After one I was very tired already.

What I like is the winter light that makes the shadows longer and bigger, gives a dramatic look. Sunny day, I still felt cold standing in the shade and painting outdoors. Today I painted this sick succulent in my backyard, which I had been watching for a while, not sure how long I could have it. I didn't want to paint the hanging chain in too much detail, the focal point was the plant. Good benefits of painting at home or nearby are don't need to waste time on the road and paint familiar things or environments.

Gorgeous sunny day, painted in the backyard. It was so cold, and I had to put more cloths on, changed to wear my warm boots too. What I worked on was the contrast between the light and shadows. Winter light is precious, it passes very quick. I found out that there were certain patterns of the succulent growing interestingly, and I had spent an hour working on... Realized that too much detail only made my small size painting looked messy after I did. So I had to erase most of them. Good exercise with a good lesson to me today.

Beautiful day, but only stayed at home cleaned up my studio spending most of the day today, before Lunar New Year. Just realized how much I had done. Now, I got an answer why I was always busy, and felt that there was not much room left too... lol. Before getting too dark, I did a quick watercolor sketch in the backyard.