01-30-15. A crossroads near a Portland Loo.

01-29-15. View of a beach from under the boardwalk.

01-28-15. A swordfish swimming under a large rock.

01-27-15. Carrot top.

01-26-15. Landing pads.

01-25-15. Making fancy pants in Santa's workshop.

01-24-15. Rattlesnake on Navy Jack in a tourist's guidebook as she passes the US Turkish Embassy.

01-23-15. Man at Land's End, England showing tattoo in memory of his brother killed in Afghanistan combat.

Zuni Meets Chelsea (69)

"Zuni Meets Chelsea (69)", oil on canvas, 24x24". For sale on Etsy.

A young woman looks frighteningly happy about the stone armadillo being presented to her by a Zuni artisan. The woman wears an expensive silver and turquoise Zuni squash blossom necklace that can be purchased for £1,100 at a shop called Wilde Ones in Chelsea, London. The Zuni artisan also looks happy to meet a collector of his artwork. He makes Zuni fetish figures, tiny stone creatures with magical properties, according to legend. The armadillo is a modern addition to the more traditional figure shapes, as armadillos are not naturally found as far to the west as Zuni lands in western New Mexico.

This painting connects two randomly selected topics: Chelsea Pink (a shade of mauve that is color #69 in Naomi Kuno's Colorscape book) and anteaters, sloths and armadillos (from my DK Family Encyclopedia). It was difficult to find an armadillo in Chelsea. From what I was able to gather in my research, it's an obscenely wealthy area filled mostly with bland, expensive international designer shops. The Wilde Ones shop seems to be a rare holdout from an earlier era when things were grittier and funkier in Chelsea. It offers "New Age" and ethnic jewelry and gifts. I browsed through their offerings online until I discovered the Zuni fetishes. I created this happy but slightly terrifying and unequal meeting of worlds that is unlikely to take place in real life.

01-22-15. Silver maple tree branches in the view from one of our bedroom windows.

01-21-15. Geirangerfjord wallpaper on a musician's smartphone in the orchestra pit.

01-20-15. A cottage on a clear-cut mountainside.

01-19-15. Parasitic plants alongside an imaginary winding road.

01-18-15. Imagining swans flying through the Catskills in fall.

01-17-15. Bowling in the Silver Dollar Saloon at the Ranch at Rock Creek in Montana.

01-16-15. A harmless booby trap in the White House.

01-15-15. Benjamin is one month old today.

01-14-15. The Cusco Symphony Orchestra performing at Machu Picchu in 2011.

01-13-15. Busker Harry Perry playing his electric guitar in front of a Venice Beach souvenir shop.

01-12-15. Artist Boni Cairncross using turmeric to make photograms in a darkroom.

01-11-15. Little girl dressed as a unicorn playing beside a chicken coop.

01-10-15. Flyweight vs. heavyweight boxers at a Prohibition speakeasy-themed party.

01-09-15. Girl resting on a pillow in a crowded emergency room waiting area.

01-08-15. Bessy, a seaweed farmer, under the sea in the Philippines.

01-07-15. Maxwell is 2 1/2 today. He's getting used to being a big brother.

01-06-15. Eating passion fruit in the basket of a hot-air balloon.

01-05-15. Imagining a newt in our linen closet.

01-04-15. Camera on egg timer for panning video of the Flying Drawbridge in the Netherlands.

01-03-15. "ALL ABOARD!"

01-02-15. Mud graffiti by Jesse Graves at a Wisconsin organic dairy farm.

01-01-15. Penguin hiding in a crate in the Lumber Yard in RuneScape.