Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

It was only 30 degrees in the morning, frost on the roof. Usually I paint in front of the water body at this location. Saw the beautiful landscape with the distant mountains in a veil of clouds. Closer rolling hills were green and lovely so I decided on this subject. Two young kids wanted to watch what I was doing. But they were not patient enough, then started jumping around me. I had to tell them that I needed to concentrate on painting, so they left. Painting under the sun felt warm and healing. Don't you agree? (February 17 2021)

Happy Chinese Lunar New Year! Year of the Ox. Today is the second day of the Ox year. I delivered two of my original oil paintings to a home in Palo Alto where a couple collected them. They were excited to show where the painting would be hanging. They said they would frame them, but two photos were sent to my smart phone before I arrived home to show me how happy they were. Both my paintings I did in year of 2012, and I read the story I wrote, looking back, I wasn't happy, depressed back then. "San Francisco Moments" https://originalartstories.blogspot.com/2012/10/san-francisco-charming-city.html My original painting "Summer Stroll by a Cafe" can be view here: https://xueling-zou.pixels.com/featured/summer-stroll-by-a-cafe-xueling-zou.html It took me years for healing myself. Lucky I have my art, and I think that I have changed after doing Plein Air, the beautiful landscape of California really helps in settling down my heart here.

Happy Chinese Lunar New Year!恭喜發財! Feb. 10 I knew that I should avoid outdoor activities during this season, especially near flowers, whose strong pollen has beaten me down for years. But it was very beautiful to see all the yellow mustard flowers last week, didn't feel I had painted enough of them. So I went back again, and the weather was gorgeous, besides it being a little windy and chillier than last week. Actually the beauty is in being outdoors, and express the feeling of one's own. One young mother took her baby girl inside the flower fields. She was super polite, came across all the muddy road about 50 meters, and asked me if they would block my view when they having picnic there. Felt warm inside my heart that some people really care what an artist was doing. She just didn't know how tiny they were in the flower fields, I barely noticed them. I was there to be inspired instead of copy anything. I decided to move all the objects around, after a small sketch, painted...

Didn't paint outdoors for two weeks, really missed it. Went to Half Moon Bay, it was beautiful and warm. Painted a yellow mustard flower field at the edge of a major noisy road, it was still muddy after days of rain. Many people stopped by taking photos of the gorgeous yellow flowers. After my first painting done, I really wanted to see and paint boats, I missed painting them very much. Over the years, I have taken countless photos of the boats at Johnson Pier, and can't even remember how many times I've painted at this location, many fishing boats I recognize over the years. Looked like the local business was doing OK. Differently, I found a good spot on the deck, and set up my work station. The deck was narrow, I had to keep reminding myself not to backup, only one step and I could fall into the sea. A sea lion swam around nearby me, only about five meters away. Loved all the dramatic clouds, and happy to see all the fishermen selling crabs. Bought one as a rewar...

 Feb. 1 Joined a zoom minute figure drawing from life models meeting. . out of my comfort zone, frustrated, and quit... Never thought drawing could make me exhausted. Every second passed extremely fast during each pose. All the life models were super-professional. Felt that I didn't have time to breath, the faster I tried to draw, the less connected my brain, eyes and hands became... Felt out of control. Felt hopeless, I had to quit after trying for around two hours. How could I improve my drawing speed? Everyone knows the answer - practice more....

  My annual allergies have started up again, and it has me "locked" indoors, can't go out painting often. Joined a zoom meeting for drawing minute sketches. Focused on value study. Frustrating and enjoyable at the same time...

Planned to go further today, but the news report said that coivd-19 infected numbers increased dramatically. I thought I should stay at home and maybe clean up my garden. Then the temperature went all the way up to 70 degrees, I thought what a waste of a perfect, beautiful winter day for painting outdoors. I drove around and found two almost identical houses next to each other. What attracted me was the shadow from the tree traced on the yellow house as a background. But my painting was not big enough to show the details. Good exercise to paint a residential house. Usually all the leaves on the trees block the full view of houses. Today, I spent a lot of time and tried to understand how each part of the house connected together. In the end, I had to break up the fences to make my painting not looking monotonous. A lovely afternoon being outdoors and painting!  (Jan 14 2021)

Jan 13 I didn't want to miss painting outdoors in such a gorgeous day, sunny and warm. Painted at this peaceful location, saw many beautiful horses, and the same old couple walking on the trail holding their hands. It was only five weeks ago I painted at the same location. The grass had turned green after rain. Not much rain so far, not sure if California agriculture would have a harvest year if there wasn't enough water naturally. It was 68 degrees around noon. Several Mexican landscapers had their lunch break nearby me. I don't understand Spanish, but I could hear they were chatting happily. California provide them good opportunities, or should say they helped California develop. Then a lady passed by, she was curious what I was working on, and gave me compliment. She also asked if I painted it on an i-pad or a PC. My mind was frozen for a second, and told her that I painted on traditional watercolor paper. She left with her surprised face. Felt a little sorry for her, ha...

Decided to paint something different. I saw many gardens have been growing vegetables since the pandemic, thought it was a different subject to paint. So drive around and found one. Set up my workstation and found I did not have any paper with me. Drove back to get the paper. Set up my painting station again, and I didn't bring any water with me. Hahaha, I guess that is a sign of getting old and forgetful. Luckily, there was a water hose nearby. Sun was out for a short time, mostly it was gray. There were flowers still blooming, vegetables, like pees, luffa hanging on the fence, and other greens still growing. We really are spoiled by California's good weather. Inspiration and paint how I feel are more important than copy what I see exactly. That's why I keep painting loose. Moved the pot under the sunflowers, we all needed the positive feeling in life, especially during the current situation. (Jan 12 2021)

Jan 10  Yesterday, Saturday I went to paint @ this beautiful location and met a new painting friend in the afternoon. It was close to sunset time and wasn't warm. My watercolor paper refused to dry. But the scene was magnificent! After I got home, the paper was still wet. Learned not to paint outdoors under certain degrees temperature for sure. So, I stayed at home and joined a zoom "portrait party" today. Several drawings I did and shared here, they were all minutes sketch starting with one minute only, great to practice.