May 20, 2010

Little Red Riding Hood








The wolf's eyes widened. "My! What beautiful flowers!" he said.

Red Riding Hood, looked down at her feet and stepped back in surprise.

She hadn't realized there were so many flowers. But they were just everywhere. Everywhere there were splashes of pink and purple and red.  Even in the dark shadows were scattered clumps of Salvia and Pansies, Bluebells and Harebells and Hyacinth.

They were deep in the woods. She'd been on her way to grandma's place when this strange creature had jumped out from the trees and sauntered over to the path.

He'd given her such a fright that she dropped her basket -  full of bread and milk and honey  and a small bottle of sherry.

The wolf was like none she had ever seen. He wore fine clothes; his coat was linen, his shirt of the finest lace. And he smelt faintly sweet - of  jasmine.

"Why not take the old lady some flowers?" said the wolf.

"She's not an old lady," said Red Riding Hood, wishing she'd never told the wolf about her grandmother.

The wolf guffawed. He held his lace handkerchief to his mouth, but Red Riding Hood could still see his teeth. They were pointy and sharp and glistening.

"Well, let me rephrase that," growled the wolf. "Your dear old grandmother will adore you when you take her flowers." He paused and nodded to the purple flowers near red Riding Hood's left foot. " I'll wager sixpence she  loves pansies the best."

Red Riding Hood looked up quizzically. How had the wolf known? Her Grandma loved pansies almost as much as loved a bottle of Sherry.

Perhaps the wolf was right?

"There's plenty of room on your basket," said the wolf, pressing his point .

"But I promised my mother .....," said Red Riding Hood.

The wolf held his paw out and mimicked her voice. "That you wouldn't stop? My, my! I bet she said not to stray from the path?"

"She did," admitted red Riding Hood.

The wolf grinned slyly behind his paw and peered  up through the leaves of the trees, to the bright blue sky. "You've got hours," he said. "There's plenty of time to visit your grandmother and get back home before dark."

Red Riding Hood thought about the pansies. The pansies were very beautiful. Picking them would only take moments.

And as the wolf had said, she had 'plenty of time'.

What possible harm could she do by taking her granny flowers?








(Thanks for looking. :) Clicking for big gives you Hyacinth and Harebells.)

28 comments:

  1. ....OOooooooommmmmmmhhhh.....(I'm meditating, by the way).... Need the extra power to comment on this one. :)

    You were right about the dapper wolf, though he bears absolutely no resemblance to that smiling guy on the left border, but I can see a similar kind of aura (I'll explain later, hehe).

    Now Little Red, is very much angelic. Capricious, so she seems, but very beautiful. I wonder who inspires you this time...heehehe...

    Well, that extra power was useful (^_^). I'm so stunned by the Renaissance quality of the whole piece. Magnificent. :)

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  2. I'm quite concerned about the wolf, though, seeing that he's not covered from belly down (unless my eyes are wrong again). I hope it's not too breezy there... Heheh.

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  3. You know the strange light? It came out through my screen and now it just kind of lingers. God knows what it's doing here. :)

    And that piece? You gotta look deeper, maybe you'll get it, maybe you won't. Heeheeee... (^_____^)

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  4. This piece kind of gives me a Alice in wonderland-vibe. (even though I haven´t seen the movie yet) Maybe it´s the wolf´s costume. lovely image, lovely colors, lovely details, lovely cunning wolf.

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  5. Très jolie interprétation du petit chaperon rouge... des contes de Perrault.
    Allez-vous le créer ultérieurement ce loup avec son ventre rempli de pierres ?
    A bientôt.

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  6. AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!

    I have so much to say.

    This story and illustration is exuding with metaphor and euphemism. My heart is actually racing because I have to get ready for work and now all I could think is what to say, how to say it...oh you inciter, you evoker, you trigger, you YOU Adrew Finnie you!!! Master STORY-TERRLER-ILLUSTRATOR-ARTIST.

    My life is so much better because you are in it.

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  7. See how you make me flusterred? MASTER STORY TELLER ILLUSTRATOR ARTISTEEEEEEEEEEE!

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  8. Awesome Andrew, I love this one too, that dapper wolf is too cool, I really like his vest. It seems this one is so good you almost made Ces late for work!

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  9. the little red is very VERY beautiful, i wish i were that beautiful (but not blonde, im keeping my hair)!!!

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  10. yes i clicked on the image, she's even more beautiful, lovely colors and details...

    happy weekend ****!

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  11. Adrew! this scene is wonderful, perfect!
    every detail is a true delight ...
    the colors of flowers, the red hat is cute,
    wolf [in action] with its charming and lovely
    clothes are amazing, a real seduction!
    congrats!

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  12. Looks amazing...have no idea how you do it! Love the new banner.

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  13. I cant read all because i dont understand, regrettablement (i don't know if this word exist)
    but your art is so good.Here where i live there are poisonous mushroom like this red and white, exactly.

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  14. I commented yesterday but somehow it disappeared (probably forgot to push the "Send" button, duh!).

    Anywho.

    Very lush and rich environment! I was wondering about the lack of sacks of the wolf too... Oh, well, off to read some Bettelheim, to try to interpret your deepest psyche :D

    And I swear basszameg, that I am going to push the button this time...

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  15. Oh my, oh my, oh my! You've done it again. Your rich flora makes my eyes dance. Oh, the flowers and the luscious mushrooms! The MUSHROOMS! And I have to love the wolf for his excellent choice in garb. That is the finest coat and vest I have ever seen. Such beautiful work!

    I have just come back from viewing Shrek 3D, and I swear to you, I kept wishing you could take your art and make them 3D, too.

    I clicked for bigger and seemed to get hairballs instead of harebells.

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  16. BWAHAHAHA...hairballs!!! Good one, Bells!! :D :D

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  17. Oooo, another masterful creation Andrew!

    Outstanding -sorry I can't get much deeper than that right now - just popping by to see your latest masterpiece and tell you I'll be off the radar for a bit - explains on my blog - behave (a little bit) while I'm away!

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  18. Hello! Thank you for the compliments. I love your comments. I love getting compliments from people I admire. Thank you. Please stay for awhile. I missed you. Is that okay for me to say?

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  19. Wow, I just read all your comments.

    Thankyou so much :)

    I'me very glad you like this one!
    I pinched a bit of Karen's technique for the coat and overlaid a japanese pattern on the 2d work. It sort of zapped it up.

    And Roberto? the musrooms... :) here in Oz we are trained to be scared of all mushrooms. It's such a relief when you meet a European who collects field musrhrooms and preppares them. But we always have that sneaky feeling in
    our minds we are going to die after a wonderful meal..
    :)

    Bella _ and Kinga Hheh, and I forgot to put pants on the wolf? Sorry about that. But at least he is denatured? I think he is! It just shows you how innocent I am. I just thought no wolves wore pants :) Why would they? It would cramp their style perhaps? Gee I don't know! Maybe that's why Red is looking at the Hareybells?

    Martine, gee thankyou very much And good luck with your show in America.! You'll wow them with your beautiful paintings.

    Hello Janne and Denise and Amariah and Hannah:) Thank you! It's wonderful to be associated with artists like yourselves.

    And Ces and Karen. Would I ever make anyone late for work? Or make them stutter (well a lady once had a caraccident when she was staring at me - I don't know why she was staring at me_ I think it was my walrus shaped hat and the tutu I was earing)

    Susan I hope things are looking up and you are on your artistic feet soon.

    You too Mita, stay out of you know whats, you shouldn't be looking at you know whos!

    Ces of course you can stay. Your new series is wonderful. And very serious. I vote for clowns next time. You can put me in. :)

    see you :)

    thank you again for looking at my work.

    I hope everyone's 'repairs' are coming along fine.

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  20. Hey buddy! That is one well-dressed wolf! Mita says that she wishes she were as beautiful as little red... I wish I was as well-dressed as big bad wolf! Another masterpiece my friend! Love all the little bunnies hiding and watching the story unfold! Sometimes I'll be going about my day and suddenly, when the lighting is just right and the mood is surreal, I'll think to myself... "wow that reminds me of an Andrew Finnie work of art!" It happened just yesterday... fer real!

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  21. Hello Jack, thank you. You are very kind.


    see you!

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  22. Oh for heavens sake, Mr. Finnie. Breathe, breeeeaaathe! We cannot have you fainting now, can we. I'm rushing to finish something, but I'm afraid I cannot live up to your calibre! Eeek, the pressure!

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  23. hi andrew you know what i've discovered while clicking back and forth among your pages your whole wooden world is like a man's world i mean so human especialy your mice especialy the one climbing up on p's arm like a half human half mouse creature is it cos it's hard to carve a precise world out of wood or you dont want to build a world that I've thought you might do and your figures are so very soft and their shapes are curvig so soft i cant see the wood how you put together the pieces and how you make those mice move. or the wood is like thick magnetic liquid in your world and by hundreds of tiny magnets it is possible to play a life of them but then it needs one or two who holds those magnets and right know i cant imagine how to do it but i belive you or my other idea the worl you are so ahead to create is like i so in london you know the one that was made out of that thing bees produce i think and they've dressed up those dolls like clones. but i tell you when bending closer i saw all the fakeness but not in your images. even learning them leaning real real close but still they seem not alive yet and if i looking at them real hard and long it's like theyre gonna melt at the very next second so i close my eyes to save them bye now oh1 more thing thanks for coming and you spotted my award as well well you would deserve it too but i can't give you cos i wanna pass it to one who's not that pro like you who needs more encouragement uh i don't know if i'm spelling this one right and to lazy to look it up in my dictionary but i'm sure you know what i mean so bye again bye bye

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  24. Hi there I found your blog through Jack Foster, I love your take on Little Red Riding Hood, you've created a very uneasy atmosphere with this picture. Really love the tones and colours you have used in this. I created my own little version of Little Red this week too it's cool to see how differently we can all create this scene! Lovely work :0)

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  25. Ok. This can't end well! I had no idea that the wolf was psychic, too. No fair!

    Love your stories, Andrew, and the textures in your work. Fabulous!

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Hya! Thank you so much for leaving a comment. I appreciate your time and thoughts.