Another Small Step

It is a misty wet day today on the Pacific Northwest Coast. A perfect day for life drawing, cleaning, and other general indoor pursuits. There have been a few walks too. I need to get outside a few times a day. Thankfully my dog feels the same way.
I have been busy in the studio this week. Still not in the studio as much as I would like to be but getting there. I finished the grisaille for my color study, at least, as far as I want to go since it is a color study. I have set it aside to dry a bit and will be starting in on the color part this week. Can't wait! Here it is so far:

The angle of the view in the picture is different from my painting point of view because I wanted to be able to get both painting and still life set up in the same frame. Speaking of frames and photography, I really am going to have to do something different. I have just been essentially taking what amounts to snapshots of my work, usually hand held. Using the flash does not work with oil paint, at least, not my flash. I get a glare as you will see in the next set of pictures. I do have a tripod and will get it out for next week's post. Eventually I would like to get a simple photography set up.
Hopefully I can get that photography set up  sooner than later as I have another place to post pictures. I finally set up my own website! It is still in the process of being built. At the moment, it is a very simple website. My computer programming skills are extremely rusty but I hope to be able to work on it myself for now. Perhaps sometime in the future I can get a bit of professional help there. I will have the website address for you on the next post as there have been a few kinks to iron out with the web hosting service.
Several weeks ago I joined the Sketchbook Project. There is a link to that project on my sidebar or you can check it out here. In one of those funny synchronistic moments that somehow happen in life, I met Susan at a local writer's event here in town and she happened to be participating in the project as well. In fact, there are four of us from this little tiny town participating!
I have been trying out a few different ideas and mediums but decided to fill my sketchbook with oil sketches. This will be in keeping with my studies and give me a bit of structured play with oil painting. Here is one of the sketches toward the end of completion (it is a sketch after all):

Again, had a challenge with the photography. Here is the same picture with a flash:

So, I will be using a tripod next week and also would appreciate any other suggestions for taking photographs of oil paintings. In case you are wondering, the sketch is of some of the bull kelp that washes ashore quite often. I love the translucence of the kelp. I will get a better picture up next week.
I have also been continuing my color studies in between the other work. I need to get one of my casts out to do a bit of cast drawing too. I certainly have enough to study.
If all goes well, I will be getting my full week in the studio in next week. We shall see what I can get done.
Stay warm!
-Renee