Sardines Over Porto

Sardines Over Porto was inspired by a recent trip to Portugal this past summer. To my surprise sardines are a national staple for the Portuguese and are found everywhere in their art and culture. Additionally, everywhere you go, the streets are paved with cobbles made of granite and local limestones- sometimes simply laid down without any pattern, but often especially in city centers in patterns and mosaics that are amazing and often depicting- you guessed it- sardines! I happened to “find” a few loose cobbles around town that I brought home in hopes of doing something with them, I wasn’t sure what as they were just blocks of stone about 3 inches square.

When I got home I sliced the stones up into little squares to make a mosaic so I could mimic a typical street and decided to carve some sardines out of stone. I initially wanted to go with marble and wonder stone (a solid black stone) but after carving up some soapstone the colors were so good I skipped the marble. I mounted them on some wrought brass to float over the simulated Porto street and voila! - sardines over Porto.

4.5 out of 5. Some of the fins don’t align as I wanted them to. 12”L x 6”W x 7”H.