Red Riding Hood
Have you ever wondered how Red Riding Hood would look like in her teen years or even later on? Or what would her story would unfold once he was done dealing with the big bad wolf? I’m sure she must have had other adventurous exploits!
My acrylic version of Red Riding Hood came to live only recently when I added the final layer of paint on the canvas. To be honest, this canvas has seen so many layers of paint that I have lost count of. That’s because whenever I paint and I have some extra paint left, I added it to this canvas.
Why wasting paint when I can harvest it and use it for a different work? Working with acrylics is different from oils. They dry way faster. Even when you try to keep your palette wet, you still need to be mindful that you can’t keep the paint for too long once it is out of its original container.
There are ways to go around it in order to keep the colours moist for a limited period of time. You may use a water spray bottle and gently add some mist on it, keep it in small air tight containers, have a wet tissue underneath your colours, sealed it plastic wrap.
Each time I added a new colour on the canvas, I asked myself what should I paint on. Funny thing is that each new colour brought new ideas and I was never sure what would I like to do with it.
At one point I was thinking of painting the portrait of a Rastafarian. Later on I had in mind the image of an old beggar. Then when I added another layer, I wanted to paint the profile of a chubby Asian man.
The texture that was slowly building up enabled me to see all of these characters into the canvas. Thus, I can say that it took me a whole year to realize Red Riding Hood.
What started as a failed art project by my partner, who initially painted the Infinity sign on this canvas, ended up being a fantasy work.
Red Riding Hood aims to awaken the inner child in the viewers, to remind them of the beauty of the time when they believed in magic and that there will always be a happy-ending.
As grown-ups we tend to take ourselves too seriously and over-think every single situation instead of tapping into our creativity and be self-sufficient.
Drop me a line in the comments section below if you liked the post or the painting! Have a great day!