Biography

Janita K. Lo was born in China and fled to Hong Kong with her family before the Communist took over her country. She was educated at the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology in Melbourne, Australia, University of Houston and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree in 1965. Ms. Lo is a Certified Interior Designer by the Texas Board of Architectural Examiners. Ms. Lo has won more than a dozen design awards of her interior design projects from The American Institute of Architects (AIA) and the American Society of Interior Designers (ASID). Learn more about Janita’s interior design work here.  Her watercolor and sketches are part of the crucial design process and key to her success in conveying the concept to clients.

Client-commissioned artwork created by Janita K. Lo has been installed throughout her projects such as the Treemont Hotel, Galveston, The Wyndham Heritage Hotel Galvez, Walt Disney World Resorts, and First United Methodist Church. She also provides commissioned work for private and commercial clients. Ms. Lo’s recent watercolor work focuses on portraits of people. She won several awards from the Watercolor Art Society of Houston (WASH) exhibits. Her watercolor Eye Series Collection is now a permanent exhibit at The University of Houston College of Optometry, University Eye Institute.

Ms. Lo’s strong faith in God leads her work into special spiritual journeys. In portraits, Ms. Lo believes that the eyes are the window to the soul, thus she was emotionally and spiritually in-tune with the subject while painting; she captures the essence of the moment through their eyes. Her other watercolor work is inspired from her personal photography during her extensive travels around the world. Her diversified work features classical techniques and realism interpretations capturing the subject’s emotions. Some of her works are in quick sketch with a watercolor wash technique and others are bold in color with a contemporary approach.

Ms. Lo is also the author of a historical novel , “Rising Son: Reflections of a Chinese Gentleman Warrior,” where she regales readers with stories about her late father’s extraordinary life in China as an international businessman, army general, adventurer, and spy. Starting from the late 1800’s through WWII, the book captures her grandfather, a royal commander of Ch’ing Dynasty and his descendents’ lives and trials during the China-Japan war. A portion of the Rising Son work was selected by The Rice University-Glasscock Continuing Education writing competition. A treatment of her novel has been submitted to a film producer for consideration of making a movie in China.

The book is available at Amazon.com, Kindle eBook, and Barnes & Noble NOOK. Check out her YouTube video interview about the book here.

Ms. Lo is now working on a series of short stories for young readers, titled “Tales From The Orient”. Each of these fascinating fictional stories encapsulates a magical period of ancient China, with its unique culture and human spirit.