Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

"There is nothing stronger than a broken woman who has rebuilt herself."(Don't remember who said it) Joining Monday morning zoom in sketch. Just happened that they were all women I drew. Tried to express each of their character in minutes, need to keep practicing...

Didn't go out to avoid the spring pollination. There was a watercolor group painting out this morning, I didn't want to miss it. But my eyes were super itchy, and my nose running like crazy while driving to the location... There are hundreds fruit trees blooming now, so were the mustard plant next to the library. Looked gorgeous, and it was a beautiful day! I almost gave up by driving past, then made a U-turn. I turned into a small road, and it was the parking lot of a preschool next to the orchard. There was a creek in between the orchard and the school. Got out of my car, saw the blooming trees in the distance and found this new spot to paint. Not too much pollen there to bother me either. Hasn't been much rain since the end of last year, the creek was dry. Happy to be out and able to paint, though I didn't meet a single person, hahaha...

Not really happy with the painting I did at this location. Went back and move away a little bit from the spot I did last week. Nice day but windy, there was no clouds hanging in front of the mountains either. Tried to work the contrast. Robin another artist from San Francisco brought a box of lemons from her tree to share. She was very thoughtful, had the cute not on the box, and the paper bags. So appreciate all the lemons, I used the lemon juice to reduce my allergies.  (February 24 2021)

Planned to paint the cows I saw last week.  Drove all the way to the location, and disappointed to find them so far away from the road, hardly to be seen.  Learned my lesson, just paint the first sight that inspires me, don't hesitate next time. Nearby Palm Ave, I saw yellow mustard flowers blooming under the fruit trees at the orchard.  Charming and typical early spring landscape in California.  So I painted that but removed the barn from my work today.  Another day of practice! (February 23 2022  )

(Feb.18 2021) On the way to the location, I had to stop a couple of times to capture cows alongside the road. Saw the close relationship between cow mother and cow baby, I felt very bad about not being a vegetarian. Thought all the cows would be my subject, but I checked out the location and found several spots that inspired me to create my work. In the end, I painted the horse barn. A young mother took her son for a hike, she took several photos of me painting at the location and sent them to me. It was very nice of her. Got some feedback from another artist Jane, she shared some info about the certain watercolor mixes that could have a beautiful reaction, would love to learn more about it.... Not sure why the horses looked like donkeys. Maybe because one of my brother-in-laws he paints donkeys influences me, hahaha... Never mind, there were donkeys in that barn anyway. Got to love the weather, learned how to check the weather report carefully and dress in layers for Plein Air. It was...

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....