Artist Trading Cards

Recently I was at the craft store buying embroidery floss, and near the checkout was some discarded merchandise. Among them was a pack of canvas paper blank "trading cards". It is for creating your own miniature art pieces to trade with others, called Artist Trading Cards. I had never heard of it before, but it's a neat idea. I bought a pack and have been painting them with kimono patterns. These cards are available for trade if interested, but I don't know how well the "trading market" is doing (??)...

Kimono series, card 1 - "Shibori"
July '09A simple design, made to look like Japanese tie-dye dots called shibori.

Kimono series, card 2 - "Blooms"
July '09
This one uses color pencil and sharpie to draw sakura cherry blossoms.

Kimono series, card 3 - "Sakura"
June '09
Another sakura, on a gradient background.

Kimono series, card 4 - "Low Tide"
September '09
I liked the idea of this one. The background is a soft silver, and with the gold flowers the shine is bright (not seen in the scan, sorry) but unfortunately my pencil made deep indents in the darker gray "waves" so it shows up as scars when viewed at an angle.

Kimono series, card 5 - "Tsunami"
Again, I wish the shine could be seen. I used a purple background and then topped it with the same silver paint. The effect is so glittery. The green lines in the "waves" is also topped with the silvery sheen.

So, those are my first attempts. I hope to get better at fine details. I have the hardest time finding decent fine-tip paint brushes. I'd love any advice people have on how to keep the paint brush tip nice and pointy!