Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Hard to believe that a half year has gone by. Where did all the time go? Checked the weather this morning, it was not too windy during my outdoor painting time. Went to the location and found out that I didn't bring my tripod. Drove around, and there were so many new painting ideas. Instead of being mad at myself, I guessed that I had to accept my aging process, or blamed all the pollen that has been beating me down for months... This pile of red dirt caught my eye, it reminded me of the Grand Canyon, which I haven't been to yet. There was only a very limited area to park my car and I had to set up my station on the trunk.  Not an ideal spot as I had to keep leaning over to peer through a spot in the wired fence that wasn't blocked by bushes or and other materials. Well, I thought it was a good practice anyway. The light shone on my paper with all the branches shadows which was really confusing for my eye and brain. Started with my little sketch, ended up an unusual ...

No matter how much I enjoyed listening to the stories everyone shared, I had a lot things needed to be done.  I joined  half way through, really had fun and sketched several people, tried to capture their expression.  Didn't get to share my story with the group. maybe next time.

  Got up earlier than usual during the weekend because my husband wanted to try out his new toy inflatable kayak. We went to Moss Landing to get two birds with one stone. He got exercise and I did another painting at the location after having breakfast with a couple friends at the local cafe. Great to catch up with them, and they had fun together on the water. Finally, I got to paint this fishing boat on the other side of the road, which I thought I wanted to paint at least over ten years. A little struggle, it was gray and windy when I arrived, sun came out when I finished the work, haha keep the game going.... (June 26 2021)

My husband had a work event to join. I thought it was a beautiful place to paint. Gorgeous hot afternoon, couldn't fine any shady spot to paint. I had to use my Plein Air umbrella which was quite small. Every brush stroke I put it on the paper was drying so fast. Bees kept hanging around me, I think they were attracted to honey in my paints, but finally I had to spray myself with organic bug spray so I could continue uninterrupted. Not really sure if I liked the way it turned out, but my practice is was counts. (June 25 2021)

Went to the same location again. Started with a small sketch, the drawing took me much longer to finish. It was breezy at the marina first, sooner it was getting a little bit windy than I couldn't handle it well. Geese were happy there, a guy was feeding them bread, though I was told that one should not feed the wildlife. Well, they needed more food to grow and fly back to Canada I thought. Kids were excited to learn how to sail. I felt cold in the wind, and had to put on the extra jacket that I brought. Couldn't get the fine lines of the rigging details with all the wind. So retouched it at home.  {June 23 2021}

Beautiful day in the 70s, painted at Redwood City Marina again. All the kids started earlier than me for their summer sailing lessons. Geese were happily enjoying eating the grass nearby. I found a shady spot and painted. Focused my practice on the clouds and remembered to take photos of my progress step by step for some friends' requests. Before I wrapped up, a large group of geese had almost occupied the area where I was standing. They were waiting patiently and watching for their leader's signal I guessed.  The adults were standing still, at the same time, some of the youngest geese in the group were eating or resting with their mothers watching over them very carefully, especially the ones that were very close to me. Will be back soon... (June 22 2021)

Exercised profile sketches on Zoom this morning, never thought it could be as difficult as it was. Felt like I drew slower than usual, and had difficult time to capture the shapes, etc.. Everyone had a story to share. I shared the movie called "Goya's Ghosts", which was a very disturbing especially watching it before bed last night. Whole sleeping dreams surrounding the movie, felt very tired in the morning...(June 21 2021 )

Didn't feel well for days, my fist time painting at Coyote Hills Regional Park in Fremont in the afternoon today. It was very hot, 102 degrees. And it was quite windy! But no matter what kind of weather condition it can not stop Plein Air painters. So happy to see some of my painting friends from California Art Club, Elle Howard, Richard Lindenberg, Paul Kratter, Robyn Leimer, Abby Zhang, etc. Finally, we could hug and shake our hands, fifteen months of lock down time was over. After a short catch up, we found our own spots to paint. The wetland was not my typical scene to paint, it was challenging for me. I forgot to bring my clips, borrowed two from Abby. I kept the painting loose. Great to have Paul Kratter's professional feedback. Always so much to learn from other artists! What a fun afternoon to catch up with others! (June 18 2021)

Drove to the location, walked around in the morning. Felt I could be here and paint more often, and excited to discover a new place to paint boats that isn't too far from me, compared to other piers in Bay Area. There were many geese nearby the port, they looked like they are living there peacefully. But there was too much poo everywhere. So I decided not to paint nearby them today. Found a sailboat to work on. It was a little windy and I hadn't painted boat for a while.  Not a smooth day, and not a easy subject, will be back to practice for sure... In the end, I tried to find a restroom to use. An older guy very cautiously guided me to the other side of the building but none of them were open. Luckily it was lunch time, I asked for help from a lady working inside office with the door open. She lead me back to the other building to use the restroom. I thought that everything is back to normal started on June 15 today, but seemed the facilities are not ready to the public y...

As usual, we had great time together sharing our stories, wondered why there were fewer people on Zoom today, might be on vacation... Anyway, I talked about how much I enjoyed Zooming with them, I stopped painting outdoors since they are my favorite part of  Mondays now!