Well... I started drawing this piece during life drawing class a few weeks ago because our model was hindered by a snow storm. I didn't want to draw the "still life" set up my teacher had made so I started searching through my bag for some sort of reference. I found some of the pictures I took of my kimonos so I started drawing them. I didn't want the drawing to look like the photos so I altered things to the point that it doesn't even look like the model anymore.

Anyways, this thing sat in my bag, unifinished for a few weeks. Then the club announced a contest to design a new cover for the book "Memoirs of a Geisha" by Arthur Golden. Suddenly it dawned on me that I could make this drawing work for that contest. Soooooooooo... I spent a few good hours adding the background and finishing it all off. And here it is! Hope you like it!

The Japanese patterns in the background were chosen to co-respond with the character Sayuri. The pine tree is a symbol of endurance, the cherry bloosoms denote beauty and the stream of water represents the fact that Sayuri is said to have "too much water in her personality."

Media: A big giant mish-mash - pencil crayon, india ink, acrylic ink, white out, chalk pastel, wax crayon, watercolour and gouache. The typography was added in photoshop. The background was also darkened to accomodate the type.

The book "Memoirs of a Giesha" is the property of Arthur Golden all rights to him.

Thank you once again to my model for modeling in the first place. *hugs you*

This art piece is under copyright! It is the property of Christina Stoppa and may not be used without permission!

Prints of the piece are up for sale in my Etsy shop: [link]