Welcome to Gaia! ::

Started it yesterday finished it this morning.
It's a Maiko (apprentice Geisha) with the kanzashi representing December. Their kanzashi(hair ornaments) changes from month to month to represent the changing seasons.
The two banners on the kanzashi have two signatures of their favourite kabuki actors
The black signature being the male actor
the red is the onnagata (male playing female)
Her kanzashi dangles with good luck charms and good fortune. When they walk with this ornament in their hair it makes a jingle noise from the bells attatched to it.

Maiko always use their real hair- these days girls dress up as maiko known as "henshin" they usually stop and pose for cameras and wear wigs- with an extremely tacky outfit. it's easy to spot them.
Real maiko and geiko(geisha) never stop to pose- unless it's a festival, special event, or you are just lucky.
No they aren't prostitutes- against what movies and people 'assume'

I really like the vibrant colours that you bring to this and the cultural aspect. It adds to food for thought when looking at it. biggrin

Though as critique(I hope that is alright to give...) there's the something that makes the image feel TOO symmetrical. This is more about the details. Some of the hair ornaments I feel are a bit flat. For example, I mean the silver one with charms dangling off. It's very frontal. I think pushing one end of it into perspective a bit would work better. I guess for future reference, be careful with details that even if they are detailed, they should still take to working with lighting and perspective well. Tweak the direction that some ornaments point and make sure range in value is there too.

Wow. It's gorgeous and life like. I especially love the kimono.