Thanks mullet and the others that have commented, it is much appreciated!
The voids just lent themselves to this type of art work and I was debating with my wife whether I should paint the voids black or white. She thought white and I thought black, so I did one black first with a white squiggly line an black dots and then thought why not take my wife's advice and do the reverse on the bottom, I can always paint it over with black if it doesn't turn out. I actually now really like the contrast between the top and bottom and now don't have to think what is up and down when picking up the bow
. Yes the jury is still out whether the bow will last. I will take it back outside target shooting as soon as the weather warms up a bit. As I have mentioned before I am a bit worried about a few small belly knots (they are just past the voids on one of the the outer limbs) but I will monitor them for any cracks. Hopefully it will last, if not it will make a nice wall display for the cottage, it is quite decorative and it was definitely a lot of fun to make!
All the best,
Phil