About
Christina Lopp is an artist, designer and teacher. Growing up in the Santa Cruz Mountains, nestled between beachy Santa Cruz and techy Silicon Valley, she has always had her feet in (at least) two worlds. She studied Communications at UCSD in the late 80’s, and in the early 90’s worked in a small family business that built computers/networks for small businesses. Meanwhile, she studied Graphic Design & Visual Communications at UCSC extension until she took a job at Hewlett-Packard as an interaction/web designer working to create early designs for HP’s homepage and other sections of the HP website in the late 90’s.
Christina (in hat) and her very first ever watercolor journal in Europe, inspired by forever girlfriend and red head Michelle Berg who planned the trip and encouraged me to draw on this trip, and of course inspired by the beauty of Paris, Nice, Florence and Rome.
The Big A-HA: On her first trip to Europe with girlfriends, she started watercolor journaling to create a memory book of that trip. Little did she know that book would shift her life toward an artistic one. After sharing the book with friends, including Gay Kraeger, she noticed how many people were yearning for the physical experience of drawing details of their life. Gay and Christina started teaching watercolor journaling classes in 1997, encouraging people to slow down and notice simple things in their lives -- and then draw and paint them. Christina has painted over 80 journals over the years. They taught together for nearly 20 years until Christina moved to Tokyo, Japan with her family.
The Big MOVE overseas: Christina moved to Tokyo with her two kids and husband the summer of 2017 and delights every day in the beautifully considered aesthetics and in many traditional Japanese art forms. She has created more than fifteen watercolor journals so far in her time living in Tokyo.
As a lifelong learner, and to learn more about the Japanese culture, Christina is also currently studying Japanese shodo, sumi-e, and mokuhanga. She is studying shodo (Japanese calligraphy) at Seishinsha under Sensei Rei Watanabe, who has recently won the prestigious Takamadomiya award, is studying sumi-e (Japanese painting) with honored Sensei Suiko Ohta, and mokuhanga (Japanese woodcut) with acclaimed Sensei Katsutoshi Yuasa both through the Tokyo American Club.
Christina has recently starting teaching art classes again after a long haitus. She enjoys trips around Japan learning as much as she can about the culture, the arts, the food and the onsens (hot springs) of this beautiful country. She and her husband Andy have two children who attend middle and high school at The American School in Japan. And she still feels like she has her feet in (at least!) two worlds.
