07-30-13. "Digital Confetti" by Matt Watkins.

07-29-13. Michael Jackson before his self-destruction.

07-28-13. "Turntable", a 1996 artwork by Fatimah Tuggar.

07-27-13. My tan-spotted foot right now.

07-26-13. Ripe banana.

07-25-13. "Fancy" fanny pack.

07-24-13. A ball of yarn sculpture by Bill Ooms.

07-23-13. An antique stagecoach wooden cutout toy.

Queen Loana (23)

"Queen Loana (23)", oil on canvas, 24x24 in. For sale on Etsy.

Two small plastic toy animals, a zebra and a giraffe, stand in front of my drawing of a model wearing an animal print cape (possibly ocelot) during a recent Milan Fashion Week. The drawing is cut out and attached to my abstracted drawing of a still from one of several brief Vine videos I made of rusted objects along the Monon Trail in Indianapolis. I play a little randomizing game to choose the subject matter for my art. My three random elements for this painting were the color Milanese Blue (color #23 in Naomi Kuno's Colorscape book), the color rust, and zoos.

While I worked on this painting, I read The Mysterious Flame of Queen Loana by Umberto Eco. I had already started painting the model in animal print when I reached the part of the book that explained who Queen Loana was. The model seemed to be an appropriate stand-in for the character. The book is partly set in Milan, and the author lives in Milan.

The soundtrack for this painting is the Rusted Guns of Milan radio station on Pandora. That's what I listened to both while reading the book and making the painting. The song is by the band Art Brut. If you haven't heard it, you should check it out. The subject of it is unique.

07-22-13. "The Pied Piper's Campfire", a c.1975 sculpture by Paul Thek.

07-21-13. "Japanese Toy Dalmatian", a 1983 Polaroid by Andy Warhol.

07-20-13. Maxwell's owl plate.

07-19-13. Woman with a French twist.

07-18-13. Some of Maxwell's building blocks.

07-17-13. "Dream Catcher", a 2011 mixed-media artwork by Shaka.

07-16-13. American snout butterfly.

07-15-13. A barbershop quartet, drawn in 1936 by Norman Rockwell.

07-14-13. "Hip Bone", a 2006 ink drawing by Joan Linder.

07-13-13. A giant peach in Gaffney, South Carolina.

07-12-13. A moldy peach.

07-11-13. "Interior V (bouquet)", a 2013 collage by Garrett Pruter.

07-10-13. Saint Reverend Jen's Troll Museum.

07-09-13. Jambi the Genie from Pee-wee's Playhouse.

07-08-13. A milk carton in a 2009 painting by Michael Craig-Martin.

07-07-13. Happy 1st Birthday, Maxwell!

07-06-13. "Hercules gave a great shrug of his shoulders...", an illustration by Arthur Rackham.

07-05-13. "Polar Bear", a 1976 photo by Hiroshi Sugimoto.

07-04-13. A Mexican cave tarantula crawls past a caver.

07-03-13. Seahorse.

07-02-13. Butterflies vs. lobsters in a 2013 art installation by Oliver Jeffers & Aaron Ruff.

07-01-13. "Chalice", a Neil Dawson sculpture at Cathedral Square in Christchurch, NZ.

06-30-13. Stalactites by Zaha Hadid.