Lobster Still Life

So I've been trying to get a lobster still life together, its been an interesting week to say the least. I am not fond of lobsters as a meal, or any seafood for that matter (tuna is possible). They're pretty much bugs I have learned, and I'm not good with large bugs, so setting one up for a still life wasn't without a little squeamish squeaks from me. I decided to take a lot of photos of one in different positions so to get a good reference to work from. I would then use either a toy lobster or something in the shape of one as a stand in for the still life I was painting from. A little confusing, and I would have loved to have used one for hours on end, but these creatures like their cold and wet environment, which a table next to an open window wouldn't satisfy and he would slowly die. So we bought one, and I tried to find the best way to keep it still for some shots. This is what I came up with:


I put him in a dish with sides because he was pretty active, I can imagine why! (I say 'he' because I just do, I don't know what gender it was.) I put a cool pack under him just so he could stay cool... so the still life set up is still ongoing, I keep changing it around, I'm currently using a dark red shirt molded and wrapped up to shape like a lobster.
I've been looking at other lobster still lifes for inspiration, such as this one by Jan Davidszoon de Heem (Still Life with Lobster and Nautilus, 1634):



and this one by Anna Vallayer-Coster (Still Life 1767):



I'm still getting ideas and making sketches and such, I will post more pictures of painted/drawed on things when they are worth putting up!

This is how our lobster ended up:




N says it was delicious! :)

P.S.-The other blog has been found and taken care of thank goodness... its probably a good thing that I'm a painter and not working with computers ha!