Pangolin Village Among the Purple Pebbles

A pangolin curls across a bed of purple pebbles and peach sand, its long body armoured in overlapping scales of mint, plum, rose and orange. A small pointed face with a bright amber eye looks ahead, and yellow claws grip a pale fallen log. Flowers and violet mushrooms sprout on its neck. Along the arched back sits a village of round thatched huts in yellow, pink and teal, where people push wheelbarrows and cross a rope bridge. A stair runs down the flank to a market with striped awnings and a wooden watchtower. Around the animal grow turquoise succulents, orange spires, yellow blossoms, beetles and arched tree roots. Each band of scales holds its own colour, so neighbouring pieces can be told apart by the rows.