diff --git a/README.md b/README.md
index a16097b..f9f6a68 100644
--- a/README.md
+++ b/README.md
@@ -47,7 +47,7 @@ cmjs/
     │       ├── toc.css             # Auto-generated table of contents
     │       └── author-profile.css  # Author profile card (avatar, bio, social links)
     ├── js/
-    │   ├── config.js       # BASE_URL, MARKED_URL, PICTURES_URL (all via import.meta.url)
+    │   ├── config.js       # BASE_URL, MARKED_URL (all via import.meta.url)
     │   ├── frontmatter.js  # parseFrontmatter() — pure YAML-front parser
     │   ├── templates.js    # loadTemplates(), templates cache
     │   ├── discovery.js    # discoverArticles(), fetchJson(), article cache
@@ -66,14 +66,15 @@ cmjs/
     │   └── author-profile.html  # Author profile card layout
     ├── blog-config/
     │   └── tags.json        # Tag id → human-readable label registry — see "Tag labels" below
-    ├── articles/
-    │   └── author/              # One directory per author
-    │       ├── author.md        # Author profile (optional)
-    │       └── slug/            # One directory per post
-    │           ├── slug.md            # Article content + frontmatter
-    │           ├── tag-id.tag         # Zero or more empty tag/category markers
-    │           └── DD-MM-YYYY.date    # Publish date marker (exactly one)
-    └── pictures/           # Article images (referenced via image: frontmatter field)
+    └── articles/
+        └── author/              # One directory per author
+            ├── author.md        # Author profile (optional)
+            ├── avatar.jpg       # Optional — referenced by author.md's `avatar:` field
+            └── slug/            # One directory per post
+                ├── slug.md            # Article content + frontmatter
+                ├── cover.jpg          # Optional — referenced by slug.md's `image:` field
+                ├── tag-id.tag         # Zero or more empty tag/category markers
+                └── DD-MM-YYYY.date    # Publish date marker (exactly one)
 ```
 
 ## Adding an article
@@ -88,8 +89,11 @@ cmjs/
    treated as the article's "year"/category, shown as a badge on each card/article linking to
    `#category/expa-YYYY`; every other tag id is a normal topic tag, shown as a pill linking to
    `#tag/tag-id`.
-5. Add a frontmatter block at the top of the Markdown file
-6. Write your content — it will appear in the list automatically
+5. Optionally add a cover image beside it too — `cmjs/articles/author/my-article/photo.jpg` —
+   and reference it from frontmatter with `image: photo.jpg`. Images live next to the article
+   that uses them, not in a shared folder.
+6. Add a frontmatter block at the top of the Markdown file
+7. Write your content — it will appear in the list automatically
 
 `author` is derived from the directory path — no frontmatter field needed for it. Publish date,
 tags, and category are derived from the `.date`/`.tag` marker files, not frontmatter.
@@ -128,7 +132,7 @@ Your markdown content here...
 |-------|----------|-------|
 | `title` | yes | Shown in the list and article header |
 | `description` | no | Short summary shown under the title in the list |
-| `image` | no | Filename of the preview image in the `pictures/` directory (e.g. `photo.jpg`); shown as card thumbnail and article hero |
+| `image` | no | Filename of an image file placed in this same post directory (e.g. `photo.jpg`); shown as card thumbnail and article hero |
 | `draft` | no | Set to `true`, `yes`, or `1` to hide from the list |
 
 Reading time is computed automatically from the article word count — no frontmatter field
@@ -164,7 +168,7 @@ Short bio rendered as markdown.
 | Field | Notes |
 |-------|-------|
 | `title` | Display name shown in the profile card. Falls back to the author directory name. |
-| `avatar` | Filename in `pictures/` — displayed as a circular thumbnail. |
+| `avatar` | Filename of an image file placed in this same author directory — displayed as a circular thumbnail. |
 | `github` / `twitter` / `linkedin` / `mastodon` / `website` | Any subset of these renders as pill links below the bio. |
 
 The body text below the frontmatter is rendered as markdown and shown as the bio.
diff --git a/cmjs/pictures/hello-world-preview.webp b/cmjs/articles/admin/hello-world/hello-world-preview.webp
similarity index 100%
rename from cmjs/pictures/hello-world-preview.webp
rename to cmjs/articles/admin/hello-world/hello-world-preview.webp
diff --git a/cmjs/js/config.js b/cmjs/js/config.js
index f440fa3..2ac0ca6 100644
--- a/cmjs/js/config.js
+++ b/cmjs/js/config.js
@@ -6,6 +6,3 @@ export const BASE_URL = new URL('../', import.meta.url).href;
 
 // Path to the marked.js vendor script (lives one level above cmjs/)
 export const MARKED_URL = new URL('../../js/marked.min.js', import.meta.url).href;
-
-// Base URL of the pictures directory — prefix article image filenames with this
-export const PICTURES_URL = new URL('../pictures/', import.meta.url).href;
diff --git a/cmjs/js/discovery.js b/cmjs/js/discovery.js
index a4d123d..170bc87 100644
--- a/cmjs/js/discovery.js
+++ b/cmjs/js/discovery.js
@@ -1,5 +1,5 @@
 import { parseFrontmatter } from './frontmatter.js';
-import { BASE_URL, PICTURES_URL } from './config.js';
+import { BASE_URL } from './config.js';
 import { mapWithConcurrency } from './concurrency.js';
 import { getCacheEntry, setCacheEntry, pruneCache } from './cache.js';
 import { t } from './i18n.js';
@@ -58,6 +58,11 @@ export async function fetchJson(url) {
     throw new Error(`Expected a directory listing at ${url}`);
 }
 
+// Images live alongside whatever references them — an article's cover/inline
+// images sit in its own slug directory, an author's avatar in their own
+// author directory — so `articlePath` (the referencing .md file's own URL)
+// is the resolution base, not a shared folder. A bare filename in
+// frontmatter therefore always means "next to this file."
 export function resolveMediaUrl(value, articlePath = '') {
     if (!value) return '';
     let path = String(value).trim();
@@ -65,15 +70,15 @@ export function resolveMediaUrl(value, articlePath = '') {
     if (/^https?:\/\//i.test(path)) {
         try {
             const url = new URL(path);
+            // Legacy WordPress-migrated content sometimes still carries an
+            // absolute upload URL — reduce it to a bare filename so it
+            // resolves against the article's own directory like anything
+            // else, assuming the file was migrated alongside it.
             if (url.pathname.includes('/wp-content/uploads/')) path = url.pathname.split('/wp-content/uploads/')[1];
             else return path;
         } catch { return path; }
     }
-    if (path.startsWith('media/') && articlePath) return new URL(path, articlePath).href;
-    path = path.replace(/^.*\/wp-content\/uploads\//i, '')
-        .replace(/^\/?(?:blog\/media|cmjs\/pictures|pictures)\//i, '')
-        .replace(/^\.\.\/pictures\//i, '');
-    return new URL(path.replace(/^\//, ''), PICTURES_URL).href;
+    return new URL(path.replace(/^\//, ''), articlePath || BASE_URL).href;
 }
 
 let tagCache = null;
@@ -243,10 +248,11 @@ export async function findArticle(hash) {
 }
 
 export async function fetchAuthorProfile(author) {
+    const path = `${BASE_URL}articles/${encodeURIComponent(author)}/${encodeURIComponent(author)}.md`;
     try {
-        const response = await fetch(`${BASE_URL}articles/${encodeURIComponent(author)}/${encodeURIComponent(author)}.md`);
+        const response = await fetch(path);
         if (!response.ok) return null;
         const { meta, content } = parseFrontmatter(await response.text());
-        return { author, ...meta, content };
+        return { author, ...meta, content, path };
     } catch { return null; }
 }
diff --git a/cmjs/js/views.js b/cmjs/js/views.js
index f6e0491..0a7b8a6 100644
--- a/cmjs/js/views.js
+++ b/cmjs/js/views.js
@@ -1,7 +1,6 @@
 import { templates } from './templates.js';
 import { discoverArticles, fetchAuthorProfile, fetchTagRegistry, findArticle, getCrawlStats, resolveMediaUrl } from './discovery.js';
 import { parseFrontmatter } from './frontmatter.js';
-import { PICTURES_URL } from './config.js';
 import { t, getLocale } from './i18n.js';
 
 const PAGE_SIZE = 20;
@@ -253,7 +252,7 @@ function makeSocialLink(href, label) {
 function renderAuthorProfile(profile) {
     const element = document.importNode(templates.authorProfile, true);
     const field = name => element.querySelector(`[data-field="${name}"]`);
-    setField(field('avatar'), profile.avatar, (image, value) => { image.src = `${PICTURES_URL}${value}`; image.alt = profile.title || profile.author; });
+    setField(field('avatar'), profile.avatar, (image, value) => { image.src = resolveMediaUrl(value, profile.path); image.alt = profile.title || profile.author; });
     field('name').textContent = profile.title || profile.author;
     const bio = field('bio');
     if (profile.content?.trim()) bio.innerHTML = marked.parse(profile.content); else bio.remove();
diff --git a/cmjs/pictures/.gitkeep b/cmjs/pictures/.gitkeep
deleted file mode 100644
index e69de29..0000000