d. ellis phelps

Writer’s Idea Box: Winter Rhymes

Photo by Clint Patterson on Unsplash I keep telling myself, "It's February. It's February." I have to do this because today, here in South Texas, it's eighty-five degrees. Yep. That's crazy! And, a week or so ago, the winter storm "Fern" brought us SNOW! And ICE!…

Writer’s Idea Box: story building

Photo by Karl Abuid on Unsplash Although the focus of this syllabus is on writing memoir, it could easily be translated and used to build a fictional story, too. For example, here I suggest that the writer write about the loves of their own life; however, a writer…

winter solstice, d. ellis phelps Image credit: Farsai Chaikulngamdee via Unsplash winter solstice blessed be the darkness hoveringunder this black moonlet demons wakelet chaos comelet chaos comeinto the womb of these wee hours—the reckoning oneswhen thoughts devour& life itself is a candle spent:lit burnt dissolvingthat turns the heavy scent of what has beeninto the hint of what’s to come…

winter solstice, d. ellis phelps

new work on Texas Poetry Assignment "Christ of the Abyss" or "Christ of the Deep" is a 9-foot bronze statue of Jesus Christ anchored to a platform in about 25 feet of water at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. (image thanks to unsplash +) Here we are Feeding Texas by writing poems. Many thanks to Editor, Laurence Musgrove, for choosing my poem, some nameless god…

new work on Texas Poetry Assignment

"Christ of the Abyss" or "Christ of the Deep" is a 9-foot bronze statue of Jesus Christ anchored to a platform in about 25 feet of water at John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park. (image thanks to unsplash +) Here we are Feeding Texas by writing poems. Many thanks…

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Writer’s Idea Box: day-tripping

Photo by Alin Andersen on Unsplash Today's writing exercise gets you up and going! I mean, it's fine to write from your writing studio or from your…

https://formidablewoman.org/2025/12/04/writers-idea-box-day-tripping/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social

orange pots & pods 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!

orange pots & pods

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…

happy pots in a wild wood 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.

happy pots in a wild wood

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…

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Come write with us!

https://formidablewoman.org/2025/11/08/writers-idea-box-can-you-smell-that/?utm_source=bluesky&utm_medium=jetpack_social

this too–a prayer, d. ellis phelps 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 too–a prayer, d. ellis phelps

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.…

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

blue owl

three vessels in a wood 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! 

three vessels in a wood

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…

three vessels in a wood 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!

three vessels in a wood

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…

light worker 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, …

New work: #watercolor original

formidablewoman.org/product/ligh...

new work: light worker 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.

new work: light worker

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…

light worker

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…

Writer’s Idea Box: writing horses 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.

Writer’s Idea Box: writing horses

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…

Please, delete this…

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…

beauty heals. find it here. 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.

beauty heals. find it here.

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…

Writer’s Idea Box: write about place

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…

exuberance: two pots with flowers This playful floral abstract will bring a sense of ease to  your space in vibrant multi-colored exuberance!

Thank you for your interest, Eddie.

This piece is now showing at the San Antonio Ecumenical Center in the "Art Heals Hears" show, opening Sept. 11. Please contact the curator, Lejla Cenanovic if you would like to own the original: 210.616.0885https://formidablewoman.org/product/exuberance/

Thank you. You are very kind.

formidable Woman sanctuary - random beauty ii 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...

Call for submissions: random beauty ii, deadline Dec. 31, 25 but submit now as work is being published upon acceptance.

moonshadowsanctuarypress.submittable.com/submit/33434...

STUNNING!

verdant flambeau Visit the post for more.

formidablewoman.org/product/verd...

Oil painting of a Southwestern desert landscape. A stretch of open land glows under low evening light, with distant mountains and soft clouds above. Painted in an impressionist style with bold brushwork and warm, vibrant tones

"Golden Hour"
Oil on Canvas, 18x24

Based on a photo I took while driving through New Mexico. Using impressionist brushwork and a vivid palette, I aimed to capture the fleeting warmth of light on open land.

#OilPainting #art #artist #sunset #impressionism #NewMexico #ArtOnBluesky

You are very kind. Thank you.

blue forest 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.

blue forest

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…

gleaning the journals: a meditation 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.

gleaning the journals: a meditation

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…

vessel with orbs ii 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.

vessel with orbs ii

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.

what she holds, a poetic memoir

(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…