Sometimes people or situations appear in our lives that seem so familiar, yet you know you haven't encountered them before. They are so enticing. Examine and evaluate them before making the leap toward them. Change is good, but a little homework first is even better. This strange plant looks like a yellow bell pepper, but of course, it's a different plant altogether. I wouldn't pick it and eat it until I knew it couldn't harm me.

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When life is hard and uncertain, start counting your blessings. Being seriously grateful for the good things you DO have (the use of your limbs, healthy children, eyes that work, a safe place to sleep, etc.) brings an infusion of joy and hope into your life. It works. Golden pure light is being absorbed by this flower and it's absorbed deeper and deeper along it's stem, soon to change even the dark recesses from which it sprang.

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True serenity comes from faith. I chose the undulating leaf’s shape because it represents real life—constantly up and down. It’s like a roller coaster—just when you think you’ve secured a position at the top, it’s possible you might have another drop. Conversely, when it seems you’re at rock bottom, a rise could be next. Faith in infinite intelligence at all times is your security. When you know you are secure, you have serenity.

The background sky varies from dark blue to lavender to show us it doesn’t matter what background we come from, we are all lovingly supported.

Which brings us to the stem that holds the leaf. You can’t see it, because of the angle of the leaf. But it’s there. Much like our creator. Even if we don’t believe it because we can’t see it.

The saturated reds in the leaf represent the limited time we have. Red means fast. Life slips by, and before we know it, we think, “Wait. I always wanted to do ______.” Don’t wait to become the person you’ve always wanted to be.

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This painting is very special to me. It’s about our connections to infinite intelligence and to each other. The green plant structure is our creator. There’s a shadowed recess in each branch that reaches up into the central core, the appearance and meaning of which are not ours to know. Each of the leaves is tethered to the creator.

The leaves are us. They’re new and young, faded and old, some brilliant, some duller.

The cobalt background has darker and lighter areas. This represents the invisible matrix of energy that constantly goes back and forth, back and forth between us. There’s no escaping it.

Even the seemingly wayward leaf in the upper left has the matrix all around it. Its bottom is heart-shaped and points back at the creator.

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I don’t think this takes much explanation. A scorched earth, a withering branch (soul) of which one section has already died, and out of desolation and doom—a tiny red leaf blooms and perhaps the tree may live. There is always hope.

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Strength –

What is strength? This plant doesn’t look all that strong. It has a sharp needle at the top of each leaf, but an interested munching animal would easily avoid it. The yellow stamen at the top of the central stem look pretty, not intimidating.

The broad red leaves form an imposing umbrella-like barrier. But they’re just leaves. They can be folded in half with little effort. Just like a muscle-bound human can be felled by someone with pressure-point knowledge.

Inner strength will always be best. The purplish stem is the strength of this plant. Purple is the color of royalty. We all possess the ‘royal’ lineage and fortitude to weather any storm.

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Delicacy –

Strange sting-ray lichen. (What a friend called this.) The tree trunk, with its green bark structure, represents youth, vitality, and strength. Though it looks like a full-grown (adult) tree, there’s a measure of immaturity, rendering it more delicate than it appears.

The wafer-thin growths are a happy blue, the color of the sky (but, alas, not this one), symbolizing the idealism of youth. They are also unrealistic, meaning many of the whimsical and fantastic ideas we have aren’t practical in the real world. The sky is grayish, the world at large that puts us in our place.

It’s a challenge to keep the joy and enthusiasm, avoid becoming jaded, while applying the wisdom that age and experience can bring.

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Exotic –

The smooth and rounded black pebbles are released resentments, in the background. They are memories that cause no stir or upset because all has truly been forgiven. They just ‘are’.

The blue flower is the current challenge(s) in our lives. Its center is bright, too bright—therefore taking too much effort to control. Impossible to ignore. It’s an unruly and uncontained situation, perhaps way out of proportion to life in general.

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Exuberance –

The wild variations in this one plant represent diversity. It’s one plant because we are all one. We’re in this together. What I do affects you, and what you do affects me, even when we go our separate ways through life.

This painting exemplifies happiness of spirit and the freedom to be ourselves, accepted for our differences, while always being aware of our ‘oneness’ and connection.

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Seduction –

The color of the flower petals, lavender and blue, are cool in tone. People who we perceive as cool can often seduce most of us far too easily. But you can only see half of this beautiful flower. What is its hidden half all about?

The background is a moonlit night obscured by clouds over a deep, inky-blue sea. It looks mysterious, strangely calm, and maybe a little dangerous. How close to the edge is that flower? Yet, we want to be there. We can smell its provocative fragrance.

So, while the flower and its setting makes you ache to be there, don’t be led down a deceptive path.

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