My basic idea was a play on little red riding hood & her wolfy nemisis. I wanted the triptych to have a lot of childlike qualities-the reference to little red riding hood, the cartoon-ish look of the characters-but also posses adult themed topics.
I wanted 3 panels: the first with her hiding, the 2nd with her reprimanding the wolf, & the 3rd with them walking away together. Although I had an idea of what I wanted the images to look
like, I didn't know what I wanted to use, other than canvas as the base, for materials.
At first I thought to use a collage of squares cut directly from the original inspiration-fashion magazines! Using the magazines would lend themselves to questions for the viewer: What do these magazines speak to? How do women shape themselves in reference to these pages of colorful images? Are these magazines used to build some type of confidence or is it fiction? While the layers of the collages lend themselves to interpretation as well. Detailed, precise, densely placed details ask to be paid more attention than the largely cut & open pieces.
So I bought a couple magazines & used others that I had & created the first canvas background & characters using entirely magazine clippings. The look ended up being too dense & busy to really distinguish the characters from the bkgrd. Although I really liked the look of the characters, I the background just wasn't giving me the look & feel that I wanted. I also felt like I'd strayed a little too far away from my original idea of childlike imagery.
The technique I came up with, was a more illustrative
look with pastels, water color, & water. I sketched the shape of the tree's with pastels, & thinking I'd fill in the difference with water color, the water mixed with the chalk & became almost paint-like. A result I wasn't expecting, but it ended up looking great!! I took the characters I'd created with magazine clippings & made them look a little more sketchy by drawing on them with oil pastels, which I feel incorporated each character into the background technique a little better.
look with pastels, water color, & water. I sketched the shape of the tree's with pastels, & thinking I'd fill in the difference with water color, the water mixed with the chalk & became almost paint-like. A result I wasn't expecting, but it ended up looking great!! I took the characters I'd created with magazine clippings & made them look a little more sketchy by drawing on them with oil pastels, which I feel incorporated each character into the background technique a little better. I really like how the glozzy magazine finish plays off the pastel, matte finish of the duotone background. One down, three more to go!!
While I LOVE the look of the first canvas, I'm playing around with adding slightly more color to 
the bkgrd as the panels progress. On the second canvas bkgrd I added a small amount of slate blue to the sky & a small amount of olive green to the grass, perhaps to lighten the mood slightly, but I haven't yet determined if that's how I'm going to leave it. I might remove the color & replace it with the same colors of the first canvas to emphasize the characters more, rather than the background.
the bkgrd as the panels progress. On the second canvas bkgrd I added a small amount of slate blue to the sky & a small amount of olive green to the grass, perhaps to lighten the mood slightly, but I haven't yet determined if that's how I'm going to leave it. I might remove the color & replace it with the same colors of the first canvas to emphasize the characters more, rather than the background.I'm also playing around with illustrating the characters for this panel. The only real reason being this may give the panels another layer of visual appeal.
I also typed up some text to go along with the imagery, another aspect I've yet to come to terms with how I'm going to execute it. I'm not sure if I'm going to use a handwritten font & transfer it onto the canvas somehow, or hand write it myself. I also haven't decided whether I'm going to write it on the canvases themselves, create panels to go under them, or perhaps matte the images & put the text on the matt, I'm not sure, but each canvas will have text to go with it.
I also typed up some text to go along with the imagery, another aspect I've yet to come to terms with how I'm going to execute it. I'm not sure if I'm going to use a handwritten font & transfer it onto the canvas somehow, or hand write it myself. I also haven't decided whether I'm going to write it on the canvases themselves, create panels to go under them, or perhaps matte the images & put the text on the matt, I'm not sure, but each canvas will have text to go with it.
The text for the first panel is:
he looked at her and growled...
a deep seated fear began to crawl from the dark hollow within her
a deep seated fear began to crawl from the dark hollow within her
damp clammy & blurry
The 2nd panel text will be:
her mind recoiled but her heart refused
scorching light coursed through the darkness
broke through the rattling
broke through the rattling
The 3rd panel will be:
there’s no need she said
and he acquiesced
The language offers another aspect of adult reference. I think we all have some type of history or fear within us, although most of us learn to hide & keep secret whatever that may be. The child in my images shares the common thread of doubt & dread, as well as the determination not to succumb to the fear, either real or imagined. I enjoy playing around with these themes because I feel like they're universal. Everyone knows doubt, everyone knows a sense or need to stand up for themselves & be heard, & I feel like everyone has felt some kind of success or triumph over dark times or feelings.
Anyways-this is the project I'm playing around with right now, who knows what it'll look like by the end but here it is at the moment!
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