Cecelia (Codfish Project as of May 4, 2017)

Today was very busy, so I didn't have a chance to work on this project until tonight. I am making this  decorated wooden codfish  for the Marblehead Festival of the Arts.  Local artists are decorating codfish for an auction to benefit the Marblehead Arts Association. This is my third year participating, and this time my codfish, Cecelia, will be decorated with musical scales -- C scales. Yesterday I began drawing the design onto the primed wooden cutout.  I had already drawn and inked the design on paper (posted here on April 22)  But since then, I had decided to make some adjustments, so there were still some placement issues to work out.  I am using a mechanical pencil to get a precise point. Last night I drew in the lines for the musical notation, and they need to look straight but actually be curved, to indicate the shape of the fish. Yesterday I struggled because as I made changes in the drawing, the gesso (primer) was really grabbing onto the graphite from the mechanical pencil.  I am still trying to clean up as I go, but am more relaxed, having remembered that I am going to paint the background a pale iridescent silver, so a little bit of graphite in the gesso may actually be helpful.  Tonight I worked out the layout of the musical notes, trying not to make any mistakes that would embarrass the musicians in the family.  But this is also "surface design" so I am trying to create a pleasing pattern. This part is tedious, but it is better to work out the problems in pencil that to discover a big mistake while applying the ink.  If you want to get a general idea of where this is headed, follow this link to see "Bella Bacalhau," last year's entry: www.flickr.com/photos/randiart/26803421380/