Bonita Bacalhau (Cod project), pencil sketch as of Apr 11 ,2025

Here is my sketch for Bonita Bacalhau, my entry for the annual Marblehead Cod Auction, to benefit Marblehead Festival of Art.

Once I had decided on thepattern for the body of the fish, it was time to tackle the hardest part of the process, sketching the entire design on paper to make sure it will work.  It is pretty hard to correct mistakes on the actual wooden fish, so I try out my design on paper first.  I start by tracing the wooden cutout onto a big piece of paper, and then I begin laying out the design with a ruler and a T-square.  My goal is to try to make the pattern fit will, you can see where I was having to modify and change things to get this right.  To be continued. . .