Here you may notice that these fanciful pots full of abstract seed pods and blooms seem to defy gravity, leaping and hopping with sheer delight.  This is no ordinary still life.  Instead, this image is the expression of pure joy as the artist works in one of her favorite pallets: orange & yellow and the flowers and pots, mere figments of her imagination coming to life. Frame this tiny art or set it on an easel among favorite books or other treasures.  It will surely pop you right out of any melancholic state and remind you to play, to leap, to indulge in fun every day!

Deliciously mysterious, this original 8X8" watercolor with mixed media painting will imbue your space with a delightful sense of wonder and joy. With oversized vessels overflowing with magic and full of vivid green, yellow, and orange hues that suggest trees and other forest vegetation, the loose, suggestive quality of this piece sets a playful mood to brighten your spirit.

Photo by Abdullah Fahad on Unsplash Once, my son-in-law, asked me "How do you pray?" All I could think to say was, "I breathe, mostly." That is still true today, but I would add: I sit. Especially in nature and as one Buddhist friend says, I listen for clues. This poem is one example of one such morning, me sitting in the shade of the ligustrum in my backyard.

This fun, funky ceramic owl sculpture will bring a sense of playful wisdom to any space it inhabits.

6X6" watercolor with mm on paper, (c) d. ellis phelps, 2025 Own this original painting now... Woods, vessels, florals, and figures, especially faces, hands, and feet are recurring images in my paintings. Trees become dryads, vessels become bodies, bodies become spirit guides, floral impressions become bounty, fertility, and beauty. In this painting, vessels seem to become trees in a dark wood, their canopies full of bountiful fruit, blooms, and leaves of many colors, reminding the viewer of the fertility, mystery, and abundant life. Let this painting bring beautiful mystery into your conscious awareness and remind you that you are surrounded by abundant life! 

Woods, vessels, florals, and figures, especially faces, hands, and feet are recurring images in my paintings. Trees become dryads, vessels become bodies, bodies become spirit guides, floral impressions become bounty, fertility, and beauty. In this painting, vessels seem to become trees in a dark wood, their canopies full of bountiful fruit, blooms, and leaves of many colors, reminding the viewer of the fertility, mystery, and abundant life. Let this painting bring its beautiful mystery into your conscious awareness and remind you that you are surrounded by abundant life!

Indigo is the color or light frequency associated with the third eye or spiritual insight often known as intuition. It is associated with the energy of clairvoyance and connection with the divine, …

Own this original now... I have been practicing light work or energy work for decades. I began with Reiki Level 1 in the early 1990s (yes. I'm from the 1900s). I have continued my studies and practice of energy healing since then and have found it to be the singular most important thing I have ever done. As a tool for healing on all levels, emotional, mental, spiritual, & physical, it is beyond comparison.

Indigo is the color or light frequency associated with the third eye or spiritual insight often known as intuition. It is associated with the energy of clairvoyance and connection with the divine, the ability to see clearly from the highest vibrational frequency. When I paint, I often feel this connection strongly and thus, the painting carries that energy too. Let bringing this painting into your space help you to feel the same high vibrational frequency and know that intuition and clairvoyance are your divine birthright.

Photo by Fabian Burghardt on Unsplash Writing warm ups can be of enormous value for developing fodder for future in-depth explorations. This month, I depart from the standard syllabus I usually offer to offer, instead, a rich writing warm-up exercise I call "writing horses." This exercise, it may surprise you, has nothing whatsoever to do with actual horses, the animal, but is instead named after an exercise athletes sometimes do.

Image courtesy of Dibakar Roy via Unsplash Whatever message is inside this being in its personal fragrance that is the root cause and maybe unrecognised cause of suffering within me, I pray ‘Please delete this message.’ ~Mooji I have been “attending “ satsang almost daily with Guru Mooji Baba since 2020, when during quarantine, I knew I had to find a teacher or I would come unglued.

Photo by Egor Myznik on Unsplash a thing of beauty is a joy forever ~John Keats Beauty heals. Here Keats explains how: A thing of beauty is a joy for ever:Its loveliness increases; it will neverPass into nothingness; but still will keepA bower quiet for us, and a sleepFull of sweet dreams, and health, and quiet breathing.

Photo by Sam Jotham Sutharson on Unsplash I simply adore a good box, a unique box. I have four boxes in which I keep jewelry: three are music boxes, one is antique and belonged to my great-grandmother, one is mid-century gold and was given to me by my father. I have a box I collaged with re-purposed materials, jewelry, buttons, wires, greeting cards and so on.

notice beauty (broadly interpreted).  write about it.  paint it.  photograph it.  submit 1-3 poems, cnf, memoir, prose, images, hybrid work.  submit in one file. you may submit more than one image fil...

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Please note: this original watercolor is now showing at the San Antonio Ecumenical Center. Please contact art curator, Lejla Cenanovic with interest: 210.784.7653 Proceeds benefit the Ecumenical Center. This cool blue and green original watercolor seems to invite the viewer into the deep silence of the woods where, if the viewer listens closely, sounds of wild birds and breeze will soothe and delight.

circular meditation for clarity, 2012 I'm delighted to have found this journal page from 2012 on which I've practiced a form of writing meditation, this time seeking clarity. I had forgotten all about this way of working. I remember it being very helpful, so I'm happy to share it with you here, tho I do not remember who taught it to me.

This original watercolor on paper with mixed media  reads like an abstract floral full of life and color that speaks to the omnipresence of the essential being, bringing a sense of protection and well-being into the space it inhabits.

(c) d. ellis phelps 2020 what she holds is my poetic memoir. It is a transformative work of writing as the healing process and for me the work of reconciliation. Here is the first poem: uninvitedborn my breath my body( uninvited ) into this:she left youin your cribyou knowwhen you were twoshe went down the road…

Turn a piece of my art into a print on demand canvas, tote bag, comforter…. Yep. Easy peasy. Check it out!