The cover of the 2021-2023 Dutch Go Yearbook is the seventh consecutive one in a series I have made for the Nederlandse Go Bond (the Dutch Association for the game of Go, also known as baduk (바둑) in Korea, weiqi (围棋) in China and igo (囲碁) in Japan). It features my artwork "Two Little Birds Play Go on the Feathers of a Peacock", which was originally made as a private commission between 2020 and 2022, You can read more background information and view some detailed pictures of the peacock artwork by clicking here.

I recently created a logo for the Ambassadors Group of NBD Biblion.
NBD Biblion is a foundation that supports libraries throughout the Netherlands and parts of Flanders and provides them with a wide array of services. The foundation stimulates the sharing of information through books and other media. Among other things, NBD Biblion prepares all the books for Dutch libraries so that they have the right coding, are durable and ready for long-term use, offers logistic services to libraries and schools for the management of collections, collects metadata and writes summaries on new publications in the Dutch language, creates specialist machinery for the sorting, printing and plastification of books, stimulates reading through educational programs and provides book recommendation software for librarians and individual readers.

The Ambassadors Group of NBD Biblion was created for the employees. It gives them a place to feel proud of what they do, voice their opinions within the company and share their expertise with the rest of the world. 

The design I made is largely based on NBD Biblion's colourful logo and its corporate identity, inspired by innovation, paper and traditional printing techniques. The crowns represent the value of the employees: they are essential to the organisation and should be celebrated. An ambassador is a true representative of a company, someone that can convey what they stand for.

Dear go players,

I have heard your cries and I have listened!
A while ago I did an online poll to ask what kind of products you would like to see for my go-related designs, and the majority of you mentioned clothing and stickers. 

I've had a shop on Spreadshirt for a while, but throughout the years it turned into a bit of a mess due to all the changes in Spreadshirt's user interface and policies. I recently decided that I would clean it up and update the shop, so I've been working on it religiously.  

Now all my go-related art is purchasable in the form of apparel and other merchandise! It is accessible by clicking here. The shop features worldwide shipping and a wide variety of products, from T-shirts, hoodies, jackets, caps and all sorts of other clothes for both men and women (adults & children!), to stickers, fridge magnets, mousepads, buttons, bags, pillow cases, phone cases and much more.

By clicking on one of the products in the shop, you are able to access all products available in that specific design. You are also able to search by category/type of product by using the drop-down menu at the top of the screen.

If you like any of the products in the shop, but would like the design to your own taste - bigger, smaller, in a different spot on the product, combined with others designs: anything is possible. Send me a message, and I'm sure I can arrange it for you.

Spread the word and happy shopping!

I used my latest marbled papers to create a new go-related artwork. It features the go board from my poster design for the Dutch Open: depicting a match that was played between top Chinese professionals Mi Yuting 9-dan (芈昱廷) and Ke Jie 9-dan (柯洁) on the 15th of February 2023.

This artwork comes in a variety of four different background colors of yellow, green, purple and blue. All versions are available as posters and as postcards in my Etsy shop. You can reach the products by clicking the images below.

This design is also available on T-shirts and other clothing and household items in my Spreadshirt shop: click here.

I finally had time to scan the papers of my marbling session in May (link to previous blogpost here). Some of these are lighter than most of my previous marbles, particularly the yellow ones, which I'm really happy about: light marbled papers are better as backgrounds. I'm looking forward to using these for cover designs and as backdrops to my illustrations. 

During the scanning process I rediscovered old marblings in an art folder, made back in 2016-2018. I've scanned those as well, which can be viewed below. Several of these would make great bookmarks.

Three of my drawings were used as illustrations for surreal poems by Mhiera den Blanken and Wouter Dalem on the website of Dutch digital cultural magazine De Optimist. Thank you to the editors of the magazine and in particular to Zep de Bruyn (instagram.com/zepdebruyn) who personally got me involved.

I was impressed by the poetry of both Mhiera and Wouter. Two poems in particular struck a chord with me: "Wildernistrek" by Mhiera, which reminded me of the atmosphere in my drawing "Roots" (above, middle), and "Bd" by Wouter for which I chose my drawing "Drie tongen" (above, right).

Mhiera den Blanken's poetry can be read by clicking here.
Wouter Dalem's poetry can be read by clicking here. 

Yesterday, on 4th of June, Justyna and I gave our first workshop on paper marbling, also known as Turkish marbling (ebru) and suminagashi. It took place in Galerie de Stoker at Witte de Withstraat 124 in Amsterdam, as part of the art expo “Colourful Art on Paper” by Philo Ouweleen.

It was a great success. We were fully booked with seven people that signed up. They all showed up, and an extra participant even walked in to ask if we still had another spot left. Since we brought eight trays to marble in, one extra tray to do a small demonstration in at the start of the workshop, we gladly let her take part. After a short introduction, all participants were eager to get their hands dirty and immersed themselves in the marbling arts. Justyna and I assisted where necessary and gave some tips on techniques and how to smoothly print the designs on paper. We saw so many smiles and excited faces. Everyone genuinely seemed to enjoy it and some people even said that they'd like to do it again. All our preparation paid off. It was a good day. We might have to do it again.

Below some more photos of the workshop and the marbled papers of the participants:

From May 13th to June 4th my talented sister Philo Ouweleen will have a retrospective exhibition of her artwork in Galerie De Stoker at Witte de Withstraat 124 in Amsterdam. A big part of Philo's work is inspired by Japan and I highly encourage you to go and have a look if you are in the Netherlands. If you want to find out more about Philo on her website, click here or see the flyer at the bottom of the page.

​As part of the program, supported by Fonds voor West, there will also be 4 workshops that revolve around art on paper. Justyna Kleczar and I will give a workshop on June 4th in which we will teach the art of paper marbling. During the 2-hour workshop we will demonstrate different marbling techniques. With all supplies provided, the participants will have the opportunity to create their own original marbled paper that can be used for a variety of purposes, including bookbinding, card making and art projects. 

Yesterday, in preparation for the workshop, Justyna and I did a marbling session. It has been a while since we did any marbling so it was good to refresh our memory and check the quality of our supplies. Justyna also made some new combs by hand, which we tested out and they proved to be awesome. We took some pictures and videos to share on social media. You can watch the videos by clicking on the pictures below:​

The organizers of the Dutch Open 2023 commissioned me to make a poster design. The Dutch Open is the largest go tournament of the Netherlands, the replacement of what used to be the Amsterdam International Go Tournament. It attracts go players from all over Europe. This year the tournament will be held in the city of Leiden, from May 19-21 in the Denksportcentrum (mind sport center) at Robijnstraat 4.

My design features a view from the Burcht van Leiden to the Hooglandse kerk, two iconic buildings of the city. We see a traditional go board with 22 moves played out on it. This modern opening pattern is taken from a professional game between Mi Yuting and Ke Jie that was played on February 15th of this year (click here to view the game). The open doors invite us in.

I largely based my artwork on a photograph by Harry van der Krogt, who is an active organizer in the Dutch go community, the former manager of the European Go Cultural Center and a board member of the European Go Federation. 

This design took me several weeks to make, and it probably topped my Go Peacock drawing in terms of hours spent on it. It most certainly is the design with the most layers in Photoshop I have ever created.
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The poster will be used to promote the tournament online and will be physically hung at the location of the tournament. More details about the tournament can be accessed by scanning the QR code or by clicking here. 

I plan to make a version without text for my Etsy shop, purchasable as posters and postcards.
Below some zoomed-in details of the artwork.
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