The Red Hat

The Red Hat began with a fashion show in London.

I had been looking at all the elegant outfits and the different ways people use fashion to create a sense of character and identity. I came home with those images in my head and wanted to bring some of that feeling into a painting.

What interested me was the combination of elegance and mystery — the clothing suggesting something about the person while still leaving plenty unseen. I was drawn to the delicate feminine features alongside the much bolder shapes and colours.

I also didn't expect the colours to work together quite as well as they did. The contrast became a big part of the painting, giving it a stronger presence than I had originally imagined.

For me, The Red Hat is about that tension between boldness and elegance, colour and mystery.

You can decide for yourself who she is, where she's going, and what might be happening just outside the frame. I quite like leaving some of the story to you.

Dimensions: 80 × 100 × 5 cm
Medium: Acrylic on canvas
Signed: By Hoza