This blog post is the second edition of Looking Back, in which I look back on artwork I have made in the past.
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Soon the 2018-2019 edition of the Dutch Go Association Yearbook will be published. Each year the Nederlandse Go Bond (NGoB) publishes such a booklet in which the most important seasonal go happenings of the Netherlands are recorded, along some major international go news. 
As is becoming tradition, my go art is on the cover! This time it is my raccoon dog who drums his belly, a pun on the Japanese name of a famous tesuji combination of two stones played on the first line, capturing the opponent's group of stones in a spectacular way. The green marbling pattern was created by hand in 2019, then scanned and cleaned up digitally.

The raccoon dog on the cover of the 2018-2019 Dutch Go Yearbook is the fourth in a series of covers I have made for the Nederlandse Go Bond that feature animals, go positions and paper marbling. Here are the previous three:

And a picture of what the three booklets look like next to each other:

The cover of the 2017-2018 NGoB Yearbook features my go butterfly, which originally was a logo that I created for the European Youth Go Championships (EYGC) of 2015 that took place in Zandvoort.
The patterns on the wings of the butterfly show several tesuji shapes, such as the crane's nest and a snapback.

The 2016-2017 edition, probably my personal favourite so far, incorporates my drawing The Tortoise Shell, a pun on the Japanese name for one of the strongest shapes in go called 亀の甲​ (the tortoise shell): a tortoise rocking the tortoise shell on his tortoise shell.

For the 2015-2016 yearbook I chose a design featuring Lee Sedol's famous move 78 that made AlphaGo go on tilt in game four of their best of five match in 2016. Lee Sedol lost the overall match to the computer program by 4 to 1 games, making AlphaGo the first computer to defeat a top level professional in the history of go. This wedging move by Sedol resulted in the only victory in the matchup for the Korean and became a symbolic victory of human capability.  


If you look closely, you might notice a difference in the look of the elephant cover with the following editions: the elephant is black and white, since most of my artwork was still black and white in those days, but also unlike the subsequent covers the marbled background is one shade of colour and blends together with the go board. The original was blue and white, but an editorial decision was made to change it to brown. The future editions were not altered, showing a small difference in style.

Technically the NGoB Yearbook series with my artwork on the cover started with the 2014-2015 edition, for which my drawing called Fighting Spirit was used. I don't really consider this volume as part of the series, however, because it stands out from the rest. It is completely black and white and as I had not yet discovered paper marbling, there is no exciting background. On top of that, the actual go drawing ended on the back side of the booklet instead of the front. See pictures below. I also include some examples of what each yearbook I illustrated looks like on the inside.  

My go art has also been published on two magazines of the German Go Association, called the Deutsche Go-Zeitung. The Raccoon Dog Drums His Belly and Fighting Spirit make their first appearances on the first DGoZ volume of 2015 and the second DGoZ ​volume of 2019.

Do you run or write a go editorial, magazine, bulletin, leaflet, website, book, you name it? And would you like to include my art? Please leave a comment!

​​I recently finished this new go design that incorporates a fascinating 9x9 endgame problem. 
This swordfish is the 13th drawing in my series of go artwork that features animals, paper marbling and of course the game of go itself. I sell these works as postcards and posters in various sizes.

I came across this endgame problem on the Facebook page of BIBA - Blackie's International Baduk Academy - a go school (go is called baduk in Korea) in Seoul. BIBA is specifically aimed at  Westerners who want to study the game. The head masters of the school, Diana Koszegi and Seungjun Kim, kindly gave me permission to use their go problem in my art. 
The endgame problem is interesting for two reasons. At first glance, the position seems to be taken from a real match that was played on a 9x9 board, but on closer inspection it turns out that there are 21 stones for black and 23 for white. It is black to play and no stones have been captured. In these circumstances, in a real match both black and white would have the same amount of stones on the board. So we can conclude that this is a constructed problem. The second reason is the solution. Tip: think outside the box.

Do you want to know the solution? Have a try in the game editor below. I have included several diagrams so it is not apparent on first glance which of these is the solution. Enjoy.

​If you do not have Flash player, you can download the solution as an .sgf-file.

Today I want to introduce a new part of my blog called Looking Back, which I will use every now and then to share artwork that I have created in the past. As the first post of Looking Back, I would like to share a series of 12 go artworks that I have made so far. 
This ongoing series features animals, paper marbling (known as suminagashi in Japan and ebru in Turkey) and the game of go (known as igo in Japan, baduk in Korea and weiqi in China). Several of these designs refer to the names of patterns and shapes in the game of go that often are derived from nature. For other artworks I took inspiration from famous go matches or gave my own twist to commissioned work.
I sell these designs as postcards and posters in various sizes. This project started little over a year ago, when I realised I want to offer my art in an affordable format. I did however want to be able to guarantee the best quality possible and that is why I decided to make the products myself at home. After taking a chance and purchasing a professional printer in December 2018 I soon found out that it is not easy to find the right paper. Not too thin and shiny for the postcards, not too thick and plain for the posters. After several frustrating weeks of failed tries I finally found the right materials and started offering my work online. Since then I have worked together with many go organisations as well as individual buyers. 

For those of you who are new to the game of go: go is a strategic board game in which black and white take turns, placing stones on a board, specifically on the intersections of the indicated lines. The goal of the game is to surround territory with your stones and whoever has surrounded most territory at the end of the match wins. The rules of go are simple, but the game never gets boring as there is an almost infinite amount of possibilities that makes every match you play a new challenge.
I have been hooked on go ever since I started playing in September 2004. The game, mind sport, art of go or whatever you want to call it has had a significant influence on my life. It gave me an outlet for my competitiveness, made me part of a community, influenced my drawings and even got me several jobs promoting the sport. You can read more about my go background in the GAME OF GO tab.

I have been working hard on my frisbee designs for www.frisbeeshop.eu! Must say I am proud of the results and I cannot wait to get my hands on these. Tomorrow the first batch of marble design frisbees will be printed, pictures will follow.
Who knew that marbling and ultimate would be such a perfect fit?
Also stoked about my new drawing "Almighty Sun" that I designed especially for a disc (the patterns will look epic during flight!), and my rediscovery and editing of an old drawing, now titled "Frisbee Birds".
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Do you like throwing frisbee and do you want to support my art? Get yours here:
- Marbled Frisbees for €24,95.
- Black and White Artwork Frisbees for €22,95.
​- Colour Artwork Frisbees for €22,95.

Starting 2020 in style!
I have been into throwing frisbees for a while, and in 2019 I got hooked on disc golf. I started playing more, bought new discs, a fancy bag to carry them in and even a portable basket. Through the Facebook page of Disc Golf Nederland I got in touch with the community and ended up talking to Hans Krens, the owner of THE frisbeeshop in the Netherlands, where I bought all my disc golf equipment. Turns out he also plays go! It's a small world we live in.

I'm excited to announce that I'll be working with Hans on customised discs. This is the first test run with my The Tortoise Shell go-design on an ultimate frisbee. Soon more of my artwork will be sold on discs, available at www.frisbeeshop.eu. The prints will be high definition graphics in full colour, with possibly the option for me to incorporate a handwritten text on request. At the moment we are limited to ultimate style frisbees, but hopefully we will find a way to print on disc golf discs as well. 

Which version do you like better: the one with or the one without the black line around the design?

Stay tuned, I will post an update when we handpick more of my art and the products are officially for sale on the website. 

#ultimate #frisbee #ultimatefrisbee #discgolf #frisbeegolf #frolf #disc #frisbeeshop #customfrisbee

I wish everyone good health, lots of creativity and self-growth in 2020! 

Welcome to my website. My name is Kim Ouweleen, I am an artist, author and go teacher from Amsterdam, the Netherlands. You can find out more about me in the ABOUT tab. 

One of my goals for the new year is to finish the new look of my website, this blog being its newest addition. Here I plan to give you regular sneak peaks into my creative process: updates on my most recent art and the work that goes on behind the scenes.  

Previously, my website only showed a portfolio of finished designs. Up until now I used my Facebook and Instagram pages to give a bit of background information on the artworks. Now, thanks to the blog, I will be able to share more with my audience. I hope to involve you and that you will take the time to write a comment or two!
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