Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

Painted at the same spot as I had last early spring. I moved the water tower to the right, and painted a a more open landscape by leaving out the old tree I included last year.  There were several parking spaces when I arrived.  I tried five times to park my car, almost every available spot. Finally I parked back into the first spot, just because I wanted to use my trunk door's shape to block the sunlight.  It was a nice day, not warm yet.  It was getting windy around noon, I knew it was the time to pack it up. (March 9 2022)

It was International Women's Day. We had a new male model from Santa Cruz tonight.  Some of the new models couldn't stay still, but it seemed that he was an experienced one.  He stayed posed, even his gestures retained the same position, those were very important for drawing in short period of time to us! (March 8 2022)

Looked like a nice day, but it was not warm yet. The morning light shown down making this spot more interesting looking. There were many light rail train passing by, I set up my station and spent more time to draw. Tried some different color combinations, and unusual techniques, not satisfied with the results, should be more loose… (March 7 and March 23 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)

Pray for World Peace !I brought my portrait study for retouching today. Surprised to see a different model, he was our evening live model for drawing class. Lucky I brought a new canvas panel to work on. Our model was a new one, and he had a little difficult time to stand still. I continued to use two colors, and it was a good exercise session. (March 1 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)

Nice weather, certainly it was getting warmer. I went back to Alviso Marina to paint a similar scene to one I did years ago. My annual allergies have started to bother me, so I used the mask for protection even outdoors. There are many paintable and historical subjects that I'd like to paint in Alviso.  I took advise from another artist that suggested toning down the colors, not easy but I practiced.  After my work done, I checked around and found my mechanical pencil on the ground.  Yes, I've learned my lesson, always double check before leaving my painting spot. (February 28 2022 )

Haven't painted outdoors as often as I used to do, instead spent a lot of time working on figurative painting in studio. Today I decided only drive10 miles to find a spot to paint, that way I could save a little more time instead of driving on the road. It was another factory I planned to paint for a long time. Parked my car in an apartment building next to the 7-eleven, though it wasn't a quiet spot. Many trucks drove by, airplanes flew ahead, pollution was in the air. I didn't even remember to bring my mask... After a while, I started to think positively how lucky I was to be here to paint.  Some people in other countries have to suffer from a war, they must be terrified...(February 25 2022 )

I don't even remember the last time I did a male portrait study. Today we had the same model that did our previous short pose session, he was a very good model who was Egyptian from Boston, stayed still. I could see his nose and mouth area, because he wore a plastic transparent mask, but all the reflection made me confused. So I had to work with a photo reference. Went home, continued working on the same portrait for two more hours. Practice is not fun, but it a must be done.  (February 22, 24 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 )