It's supposed to be a birthday gift for my friend and soul-mate.

Japanese reed mat painting, here are some examples

I can't decide which one to go with. My color/contrast perception fails me.
Which one, in your opinion, is better in terms of brightness and contrast of a dragon and overall picture?

Here is my pick.





I got other version.




What do you think?
Any suggestions on how to improve it would be greatly appreciated. Thanks.

P.S. the inscriptions are the haiku poem by Matsuo Bashō, my friend's favorite Japanese poet.

clearly the first one but they all look a bit blurry

maybe the distance between the lamellars (is that the right word ?) is too big ?

It became blurry, because it's supposed to be a wash ink and I duplicated layer, desaturated, added contrast, blurred and set soft light blending mode. But the most important part of Japanese art is not the colors but the lines. So, I'm afraid you're right. I'll change it.

Those things are actually bamboo sticks. I can make the gaps between them smaller. Thank you for suggestion.
Those are not done yet. I want to make the mats look aged and weathered a bit as a final touch.

k1tesseraena: they're lovely! i agree with esper that the first one looks best but the space between the bamboo sticks doesn't bother me, i think it makes the picture more interesting to look at. what i really miss is the strongly marked contours of japanese art, but if i understand you correctly you were going to work on that.
i think it will make a fantastic card when it's finished, your friend will love it!

The first one is my favorite, and I do like the spaces between the reeds. If the dragon could be sharper, it would improve it, as it does, indeed, look a wee bit blurry.

Like the first one although I do like the fishes its just the balance seems a bit wrong with the fish, maybe cut down on the number of fishes to four and have two going one way and two the other.

Thank you, everyone! OK, I still have about 3 weeks to finish this up. Will do some adjustments and post here before my friend gets it.
Hearty, which fish is to go?

I think the bottom one and maybe flip the gold one around.

Yeah that will look good and not 'broken', thanks a lot!

I like the first one best. The second one is too dark. The goldfish one is cool, though maybe a little busy. Perhaps 2 goldfish swimming opposite each other and larger might work there. But I love the concept here. Kind of reminds me of making graffiti on walls that have none. I'd love to see your finished pieces.

Thank you, EK! I'll take every advise under thorough consideration. The problem is that my friend for whom that card is meant is the only expert on Japanese art I know and I can't consult with her. In the second image I was actually pursuing the goal of deeming the bright colors as the traditional art dictates. You don't see bright colors in Japanese art much. Maybe I should just mute the colors by overlaying desaturated layer?