I always tend to write a lot in these things when I submit. I hope that's alright. In any case, I found the main scan and fell in love with it, despite the fact I really didn't like the color quality of it, and it had that awful tear though (unavoidable when art spans over the spine I suppose.) I spent a while extracting and cleaning it up with the intention of vectoring it eventually. After a lot of debate I ended up keeping it as it was, because it would have lost so much character in the translation from ink/watercolor work to vector.

From there I created a background that went better with the newly adjusted/replaced and saturated colors. For a long time I didn't know what I was going to do with the background, I tried a few things such as shadowing window panes in but it never really worked. As a last step before I gave up on finishing it, I submitted this to SZ, and got a lot of great feedback from other members. I especially want to thank [ap]PinkPrincessLacus[/ap] and [ap]nat[/ap] for their advice among the other good advice given there.

I'm still not so great with backgrounds, but I think I'm slowly making an improvement towards where I'd like to be. If anything, working on this as fueled my desire to continue my own water color and fine art pursuits. It's a good thing too because I have a couple of triptychs due in December for my art class. Hahaha.

In closing, please enjoy.

Scan Credits
Main Scan :: by saa-chan @animepaper
Beads and Roses:: by saa-chan @animepaper
More Roses :: by KittenChamp @animepaper

Texture/Brush Credits
Clouds :: Photography by a friend of mine
Brushes have been acquired by me over the years, and I've regretfully lost my txt file of credit names. If you recognize brushes, please tell me so I may give proper credit.

Dedication
I want, in some strange way, dedicate this to my father who passed away on October 3rd 2009. He'd always encouraged me in my artistic pursuits since childhood, and helped me through my first years of college. Without him I would not be striving to be a teacher in the art world. I love him, and I miss him, and I hope he knows I think about him every day.