This piece of art is Inner Peace, by Giovanna Numan. This is a mixed media style of art. More specifically, Ms. Numan starts with a basic painting, and adds layer upon layer of beads, sequences, etc. to the painting.
In this piece, a Latin-American woman is seen in a garden with her back to the world. Her turned back represents her turning away from the world. Her hat hides her face, allowing her to see her garden world but not allowing the world to see her. She is dressed traditionally, with her black hair protecting her exposed backside. Her dress channels the visual energy from the ground to her backside, thus focusing the piece around the mystery of the woman.
Likewise, the shiny leaves reflect the shine of her mind, and too focus the light back on the woman. In the midst of this is the garden, a place full of flowers representative of the inner peace the woman has found. The lack of society and indeed the exposed back represents the woman's existence alone with hersself, in a place of peace and tranquility. This is a place of evrlasting beauty, as shown by the green background.
The frame around this woman carries out the edges of the picture, with flowers and leaves coming out into reality with the bottom of the woman's dress. Thus, she is not far away from the physical world, and is capable any time of returning from this place of inner peace.

Red, hooded, and opinionated

The story of little red riding hood is a normal fairy tale, made stranger by the article in Ms. magazine. When I first read the original story, I found no surprises - the ending was not very outlandish for an original fairytale. The interpretation was a whole different story. I would not have guessed the true intentions of the wolf in any circumstance - the story then seems truly creepy. The culture itself seems truly disturbing, in regards to what was deemed "acceptable". I can now more fully appreciate the moral stated at the end of the story.
The creation of alternate versions also interests me. The fact that the Grimm brothers would "tone it down" seems shocking to me, as I know them as writers who leave very little unwritten. However, from what the article relay's, Grimm's version may be a copy of the original version. This leads me to the question: why did Mr. Perrault choose to change the story so? I can only partially understand the motive of instilling children with a good moral message.
The influence and change in attitude toward the characters in this story is slightly comical. Degraded standards in society have worsened to the point that Riding Hood's predicament is one lusted after by many people. Who is to blame for this complete erosion of moral values? It is possible that Mr. Perrault got the idea correct, and that the story would serve to explain good moral standards in today's world.

Fairy Tale Tale

When I was growing up, my favorite children's story was a book called the 11th Hour, by Graeme Base. This was a not-so well known, but kid friendly book. The plot is about a group of animals who come together for a party and a magnificent feast, which is stolen before anyone gets a bite.
Among the unique aspects of this book, I particularly liked it for its incredibly detailed pictures, with each page covered entirely by intricate drawings of animals in costumes playing games. A food lover as a kid, I loved to just stare at the delicious looking banquet that Base drew and imagine eating it.
The mystery of "who ate the feast" also intrigued me, as I have a love for mysteries. Base drew every picture with clues as to the culprit hidden in the most innocent of places, or page borders. In addition, each game that the animals played (before the theft of the feast) had a funny twist to it, such as a musical chairs game played by breaking the chairs.
I also thoroughly enjoyed the large cast of characters. Base made each character separate and memorable, by giving them individually their animal traits while endowing them with traits fitting of their costumes. The plot does not focus entirely on the mystery, but rather takes a slightly episodic approach of walking the animals through their day, a form difficult to pull off but that Graeme Base does well.