This style of painting is from Luang Prabang, Laos, but China is right next door. There is probably a volcanic vent that releases gas and fire from the river making people here from ancient times to believe there was a fire breathing dragon in the water. The lotus represents purity in Buddhism. I often see these types of paintings in temples here and wanted to give this ancient Siamese style of painting a try.

I've been an artist my whole life, but have only been using Procreate on my iPad for a few years. I probably understand the app less than 25%. I only recently figured out how to draw perfect circles and straight lines by pressing another finger on the screen. I would always draw my picture first then worry about the background later, but I used the gradient blur to create this background before I spent all day on the dragon. It made the whole thing turn out better and was a lot easier in the end. Thanks for checking out my Siamese dragon today. Have a nice day!

https://steemit.com/art/@jeremiahcustis/happy-chinese-new-year