Original Art Stories - Xueling Zou

I really enjoy painting in Alameda now, just because there are so many different kinds of subjects I love to do, one of them is boats, of course. Yes, I painted at Grand Marina again. I did one of the same boats as during the event week, but I was not happy with the result. So I had to come back to paint it before the opening reception. It was much warmer weather than the week before. Actually I felt hot standing and painting in the sun. The big boat had changed its angle since my drawing was done, they were working on fixing it. A couple of nice local people passing by and told me that they liked my work, thought the boat looked prettier in my painting than the real one. Still I got caught in traffic though I left home in the early afternoon. (Updating from August 10, 2018)

I am sure that other artists painted harder more than I did this week, thought I had been painting like a mad cow, from dawn till before it was too dark to see. I had two eggs each morning from Monday to Friday, joined two dinner parties on Monday and Thursday. Had lunch with other artists after "Quick Draw" on Wednesday at Frank Bette art center. The rest of time I ate one banana and one or two cucumbers for dinner. Each night I studied and fixed some little details I didn't like until well after midnight. I didn't have time to chat with my beautiful host lady. When I painted in the afternoon at Encinal Yacht Club on Thursday, I felt my brain seemed already numb and not responding. I brought my painting to another artist asking for an opinion, she suggested I should stop. I did stop and made decision to come home on Friday morning because it was our framing day. Got up at 5 am, I still caught the traffic. Good news is I've found that I've lost 6

Yes, I passed the very intense "Quick Draw" this morning. Finished a 14"x11" painting and framed it totally in 3 hours, including driving to the location and back. I name my painting as "Happy Ending". After having lunch together with the other artists at Frank Bette Art Center. I painted at Grand Marina the rest of day after sunset. A business gentleman invited me to paint on a balcony on the 2nd level of a building on the dock with a full view of Grand Marina. And I painted there in the shade. Luxurious, don't you agree? (Updating from August 1, 2018)