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.

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:​

On the 13th of April, Justyna and I did our first paper marbling session in 2020. In this blog post I share the pictures of the process and the final results.

Paper marbling, also known by its Turkish name ebru or by its Japanese equivalent suminagashi (墨流し), is a technique of ​aqueous surface design. Marbled paper dates back to at least the 12th century AD and has traditionally been used for book binding and other decorative purposes. By dropping paint on the surface of water or a thickened fluid called size, and by manipulating that paint, all kinds of wonderful patterns can be created. The designs are directly transferred from the size onto paper or other materials such as fabric.   
I discovered paper marbling in 2016 through a short 1970's documentary called The Art of the Marbler. Since 2018 I have been incorporating marbled designs in my art, particularly in my series of designs on the game of go that include animals. I sell those designs as posters and postcards to go players, go tournaments and other go organisations such as clubs, national associations/federations and schools.

It is always a lot of work to prepare a marbling session. Personally I mix a powder extract of carrageenan seaweed or a thickener with water to create the size. This has to be prepared the day before you want to marble, as the mixing creates air pockets that need time to disappear. It is possible to marble with air bubbles on your size, but this will result in white circles on your print where the bubbles touch the paper. In most cases that is not the desired result.
​For the paint I use "ebru boyası" by the brand Art Deco, especially made for marbling. I have tried many types of paint, water, carrageenan extract, paper, you name it, but my best results came after I bought a ready-made set from Dodin's Marbling, a shop from Israel. Later I bought the same paint from an online marbling store in the Czech Republic and some additional tools like brushes with horsehair bristles from shops in Turkey.
The great fun of marbling comes after all the preparations have been taken care of, once you can start dripping paint on the surface of the size-fluid. The drops of paint expand and flow, patterns in all colours appear with ease and are just as easily changed with the touch of a stylus or a comb. It is satisfying to control the fluid motions of the paint. At the same time, you are never fully in control, since the paint finds its own natural way to flow. Marbling always surprises: one moment you have a beautiful pattern, then it changes completely when you drop a new colour in the tray. Or you think the colours look so-so in the tray, but when you transfer them onto paper all of a sudden they come to life. There are so many techniques to create different styles of patterns. Marbling is a bottomless well, an endless source of unique art that reminds me of nature and the cosmos.

Would you like to see more of my marbling? Have a look here.
The originals of these marbles on paper are for sale for 7,50 euros each. Let me know if you're interested!

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!

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.

Do you like my go art and do want to support me? Check out my Etsy shop for posters and postcards.

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.