Japanese Woman - Xpost from Monthly Prompts

[Joy]

I have a great interest in different cultures, especially Japanese. It is a 7 x 9 watercolor on Canson XL 140 sketchbook paper, which is not very good paper at all. It started out as a sketch, but I just kept working on it. My art has been disappointing for a while, so this restored a wee bit of my confidence. Most of my recent efforts have been binned. I was thinking of having this framed, even though I did not sign it. My concern is that I will ruin it or detract from the subject by attempting to sign it. Any and all recommendations about such welcome.

 

[Terri]

Beautiful work, Joy. I think most of us go through periods of dissatisfaction with our work. I'm glad you kept working on this one: the gown detail is wonderful!

I've signed my photography, if offered for sale. Never given much thought to signing my oil pastel stuff, since it's mostly personal work and I don't see a reason to sign it. But I don't see this painting suffering from adding a small signature or initials in a bottom corner. If it's kept small I don't think it would detract from the subject, and certainly not ruin it. Go for it!

 

[Schuee]

Excellent, Joy. I can feel the texture of the green fabric. I love the colours in her hair. It’s very well done.

 

[Artyczar]

Wow, Joy. I think this is fabulous and is has a beautiful soft focus to it (a very cool "vibe"). It lures me in and I love the pose too. The detail is so alluring and the palette is especially nice (the pinks and greens together). The purple in the hair was an excellent touch! You should be proud of this successful piece!

 

[CaliAnn]

Just gorgeous!

 

[Donna T]

Beautifully done, Joy! It's such an elegant subject. Sometimes I hide my signature in places where you really have to look to find it - like under one of those fabric folds in your painting.

 

[Joy]

Terri, Donna, thanks for your kind words and empathy! I did some small lettering, bottom left corner.
Penny, Ayin, thank you! Your words are so meaningful and encouraging. The pattern was not that difficult,as I just took my time and filled in the shapes. Since I was hesitant about the hair, I put that off, and found a lot of difficulty there. The darks and highlights were quite challenging.

 

[Vivien]

Beautiful watercolor work Joy! This is stunning, and yes do sign, get if framed and hang it on your wall!

 

[Joy]

Vivien, thank you so much! I just picked it up from the framers recently. It is so wonderful to see you are back posting here, and I look forward to your work. I haven't done very much the last several months, as we were away on holiday a bit. Also, my artistic efforts have been mostly quite disappointing. Participating in the challenges has not transpired as much as I would have hoped.

 

[Jo Castillo]

Beautiful. You could sign with an ink pen. That paper is not good for water. You need a Canson mix media or watercolor sketchbook. The XL would be good for colored pencil or ink. Again so pretty.

 

[Joy]

Jo, thanks for your input. The paper is Canson XL 140CP watercolor paper, in a sketchbook. My apologies for not stating that more clearly in my original post. I would never attempt to apply watercolor to sketch paper made for pencil drawing.

 

[Triduana]

This so good Joy! The detail in the fabric is wonderful and I love how you painted the hair.

 

[Joy]

Kay, thanks ever so much!