Bela Bacalhau as of May 1, 2016

I haven't forgotten about Bela Bacalhau, my codfish project. Here she is as she looks now. I am decorating this wooden fish for the Marblehead Art Association. (Fifty area artists are decorating these wooden codfish, to be displayed in downtown Marblehead and then auctioned off to support the arts.) When I think of codfish, I think of my visits to Portugal, where codfish dishes are on every menu. So I decided to use a Portuguese theme inspired by blue and white Portuguese tiles (azulejos) that I have seen in Porto. I have previously tried out my design by drawing it "life size" on paper (posted here April 9, 2016 ). The basic idea is a visual pun: fish scales that look like they are made of tile. After trying out some options, I decided to use ink and fine-line marker for the lines, silver ink to outline the square "tiles", and blue marker for the lines that decorate the tiles. This is as far as I got today. So far I am happy with this, and I like the way the silver looks when the light hits it. I also participated in this codfish event last year, and if you like, you can see what I made if you follow this link: www.flickr.com/photos/randiart/17469011928/