Work in Progress Wednesday - Sketches and A Frog

I sometimes like to share my processes as far as creating my stuff goes. So here are my two most recent sketches, you may recognize the gnome riding a snail from another sketch I did a while back. The difference is this one is on watercolor paper so he's ready to be painted. The one in my sketchbook would have turned mushy if I had attempted to paint him. *sigh*

As you can see, I sometimes doodle in the margins. When I go to paint, the margins will be filled with paint samples as I test my mixes.

The other sketch you see here is a work up of a wise old goblin shaman. As some of you know, the creature of faery most often on my brain is indeed of the green skinned variety. I can't help it, I love them.

And speaking of goblins...

She's all felted! A friend of mine gave me some advice on how firm she should be (like a well done steak) which really helped me out. I've been felting everything to be much too squishy but not this time! Overall, she's taken 14 hours. She has merino skin in earth tones and her hair is a blend of wool, mohair and sparkly fibers. I plan to work on some clothing for her from bits of deer hide and maybe some silks. She's also going to be a shaman of sorts (holy theme week, Batman!).

And finally, a painting that was sketched out nearly a year ago. Better late than never, right?

This is 'The Frog Prince'. Done in watercolors at a size of 5"x7", this was my first foray into the use of masking fluid, which I used to keep the highlights and firefly bums clean while I painted the rest of the picture. I'm not sure how I like it, because it's gloopy and application wasn't as smooth as I'd hoped but it definitely got the job done!

That's about all I have in the works right now, aside from gathering fabrics and cutting squares for one of those twirly circle rainbow skirts. I'm not really very patient when it comes to sewing, but for whatever reason I've decided I need to make one. So I'm currently gathering and cutting 136 color coordinating squares. Oh boy.

And this is all on top of working extra hours, weeding (the never ending chore!), laying down new mulch, helping the dude put up a new fence around and move 10 tons of gravel into the vegetable garden to replace the old wood mulch. Free time? What's that? ;-)

What are you working on this week?