For those of you that have been to the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, you'll know what a maze of buildings and rooms it is.

When we got to the street level there was a poster on a pillar of a painting of a woman gazing at a candle. My daughter said how much she'd really like to see that painting.

Eventually after viewing two other buildings we arrived at the main collection. But after wandering through five or six rooms it became obvious that we might never find the painting at all. By then I was two rooms ahead of my daughter.

So it occurred to me I could use my pendulum to find the painting. Only I didn't have one with me. So I took off my simple  beaded necklace and decided it would do in a pinch.

First I visualized the painting in my mind's eye.

Here are the questions I asked the pendulum.

1. Is it in this room? No

Pretty much a given as I'd already looked around that room.

2. Is it in the room I am facing? No

So I pivoted to the left.

3. Is it in the room in front of me? No

4. Is the room in front of me at least in the right direction to find the painting?

So I walked into the next room and sure enough the painting wasn't in there. But I felt a strong urge to turn to the right. So I pivot around. Directly in front of me are 3 arches to walk through...and ahead of them, centered on the wall directly in my line of vision, was the painting.

I don't think I could have found it that fast even if a guide walked me directly to it.

And I'm sure the security guards wondered why this crazy lady holding a necklace was standing there grinning from ear to ear.

So I went back and got my daughter.

After we walked through many rooms, I realized just how amazing it was to find the needle in the haystack. We never did see all the rooms. And after we got home I found out there was a 3rd level in the museum as well. That painting could have been anywhere.

You can't take photos in the museum but as we were leaving I tried to get a photo of the poster. Unfortunately my camera shutter was stuck so I couldn't get a good shot.

The painting is of the Madonna when she is pregnant. She has a skull resting on her lap. Silly me didn't write down the name or artist. And doing a websearch for Madonna painting is going to have 1000's of hits.