Flora, The Flowering Cod (as of April 24, 2026)

Here is my entry for the annual Cod Auction as of April 24, 2026

Every year, some 50 area artists pick up wooden fish cutouts in Marblehead, decorate them, and then deliver them to be displayed and then auctioned online to benefit Marblehead Festival of Art.  This year, my codfish was inspired by some  pretty uninspiring photos of a "flowering codfish", a species with rows of brown markings shaped only vaguely like blossoms, against a stippled background.  I decided to make the markings look more  specifically floral, use rose-gold instead of brown, and turn the stiples into a polka-dot background.  Once I had the idea and sketched out the design, this project went pretty smoothly.   Here you can see I have added the polka dots and markings on the fins, using gold-colored marker.  These will match the edges of the fish, also to be painted gold. I also sketched in some leaves.  To be continued. . . .