Here is my artwork "Curiosity" which won the Tesshin Sasaki Award at the 49th Sumi-e Society of America Annual Juried Exhibition in Bloomington, Minnesota.  I painted the black mouse and the white mouse fairly quickly but it took me a long while to decide what to do next.  I wanted to give them something interesting to look at, but did not want that item to overwhelm the mice in the overall composition.  I eventually decided on a spider building a web. The title of the artwork coincidentally was the same as NASA's Mars robotic rover which was news headlines during the exhibition.   

I will be teaching an introduction to sumi-e workshop for the Baltimore Watercolor Society on March 16 -17, 2014 in Olney, Maryland.  Please register online with BWS here http://bws.onefireplace.com/BWSEvents?eventId=609023&EventViewMode=EventDetails.  The class is designed for watercolorists interested to widen the horizon with the art of sumi-e to improve brushwork and explore new way of looking at art.  Class is expected to fill up quickly so please register early.  Note the late start on Saturday because there is an exercise class at the center in the morning.  Call or e-mail me if you have any questions.  Hope to see you there.  Joan Lok 

Learn how to create different shades of grey

Just posted two articles in "Jumpstart" in my website, www.joanlok.com.  The material one is about sumi-e brushes: difference between flat and rounds, soft and hard hair, and the materials used.  Do you know that wolf hair brush is not made of wolf hair?

Another article is on how to make different shades of grey in a consistent way of adding water to sumi-e ink, and how the amount of ink and the speed of the brush also affect the appearance of ink marks.

About the title - I was conducting black ink only painting workshops when my students proclaimed that I taught them how to prepare “Fifty Shades of Grey”.  They suggested the title of the article, so here it is.  Now you know. - Joan Lok.   

Joan Lok won the Kyoto Education Award

Joan Lok's "Magnolia and Cardinal" won the Kyoto Education Council Award in Japan.  After touring various cities in Japan, Taiwan, and the United States, the scroll came back with an award certificate written in Japanese, plus a really cute plaque with the winner's name and the award engraved on it.  Neat!  

I just updated the galleries in my website with tons of new artwork.  Please check them out at www.joanlok.com  Enjoy. 

Ranazul Opening Reception, Oct 14, 2012, Maple Lawn, MD

Took me a while to download the photos from the opening reception at Ranazul.  Receptions are like that - it took time to plan but is over in a flash.  Thanks to everyone who came, and to the chefs at Ranazul for the delicious tapas. 

Just two more days to champagne reception

It's Friday and Sunday is the day!  Besides the show, I will have 10 more unframed work, notecards and art albums at the reception.  It should be a lot of fun.  My friends asked why I am so "on and off" in Blogger and Facebook.  Well, I work fulltime so a week is actually just the weekend for my art-related activities.  Besides updating the website, blog and facebook, I also want to paint.  And when I paint, I forgot about all the other things (sometimes including eat and sleep.)  I have been working on a couple of lotus paintings in the last few weeks.  But here I am.  Remember to come to the reception.  Weather should be nice athough a bit colder than before.

Hanging a solo show at Ranazul today

I am hanging a solo show at Ranazul Tapas-Wine-Bistro in Maple Lawn, Maryland this morning.  It should be ready for viewing by lunch time.  The show will run from today through November 3, 2012.  Champagne reception on Sunday, Oct 14 from 4 - 5 pm.  Come and have fun.