I remained resolute, this gender neutral couldn't be so hard could it? So I chose green as a nice neutral colour and from there decided that my nursery just had to be woodland theme.
The woodlands animals was composed and painted in gouache within an hour. The split log was more of a problem, I wanted the picture to interact with it and finally settled on squirrels because 1) they are underrepresented as I have a predisposition for foxes and owls and 2) they are notoriously mischievous.
A small indent was later drilled in the back to allow them to sit on a nail.