Timothy - Thanks so much for your feedback!
I've left a gap in my schedule between Thanksgiving and Christmas that I'm thinking I could use to try my hand at oils.
As far as the camera goes, I didn't realize it was distorting my references so much! I just checked out the 'Canon Digital Elph' I've been using and the lens looks like it is 5.4-10.8mm. Ouch!
Looks like I'll need a better camera sometime soon. (When I can afford it -- I'm really just getting started and trying to spread out the up-front expenses to be at least breaking even!)
Thanks again!
Terri