I'm Beginning a "Serious" Oil Painting

It felt like it was time to do a painting.  And, coincidentally, I was looking through the latest issue of Best Friends' Magazine, the magazine of a wonderful animal rescue organization in Utah.  As I turned the page I was transfixed by two small photos of an enchanting hedgehog!  It immediately seemed that "Tea in the Hedges" would be a fun theme to paint.

After fooling around a bit with the drawing, this is what I came up with for the central figures.  I'm still working on a mouse to share the cookies with the hedgies.

A bit later I was surfing Etsy and decided to look for vintage picture frames.  I found two vintage examples of what are called Adirondack frames.  They are carved dark wood - perhaps walnut - and are in the shape of branches crossing at the corners.  Also at the corners are carved leaves.  One of those seems perfect for this picture (with the slight use of artistic license that hedgehogs don't live in America in the wild).

I'm waiting till the frame arrives to cut the wood panel for the painting as I want to be sure of the fit.  But in the meantime I'll be developing the drawing.