Questions; Dan@mindshafts.com
Art That Gives Form to How Life Feels.
Explore the MindShafts world and receive a free print — no pressure, just something to live with for a while.
Choose your FREE 6x8 print from the MindShaft Collection below.
Only pay shipping and handling fee to make sure your print gets to you safely.
FREE Bonus - Free prints(s) upon upgrade
Hello! I'm Dan 👋
I create surreal paintings inspired by the quieter parts of life most of us carry inside.
Most pieces begin with a small observation — something about pressure, responsibility, time, loss, and the way people quietly carry their lives forward.
Like most people, I’ve carried my own share of those things too. And when I reflect on them, I’m always aware that many people carry far more, often without even having the words for what they’re feeling.
I start with a feeling or a question, and slowly build a world around it, using surreal imagery to give form to things that are often hard to name. The goal isn’t to explain anything, but to create space for recognition — for people who don’t want to categorise their inner life, but simply see an image and quietly recognise themselves in it.
I offer a free print simply as an invitation into this world.
Art lives differently when it’s in someone’s home rather than on a screen. It becomes something you notice in passing, something that changes slightly as your own thoughts and moods change.
This isn’t about promotion or obligation. It’s just a way of sharing the work with people who feel a connection to it, and allowing the relationship to begin quietly, without pressure.
How the invitation works
Simply take a moment to explore the available works below.
Choose the print that speaks to you (one per person)
Cover the cost of postage and careful handling ($9.99)
Your print will arrive within 14 working days
If you have any questions at all, feel free to reach me at :Dan@mindshafts.com
If it doesn’t feel like it belongs with you
Sometimes a piece of art looks right on a screen but feels different when it arrives in real life. If that happens, just let me know and I’ll refund the postage and handling cost.
You’re welcome to keep the print or give it to someone else who might appreciate it more.
This is meant to be a gentle invitation into the MindShafts world — not something you feel stuck with.
Choosing your print
Simply choose a piece that feels right to you from the works below.
Each print is an 6x8 reproduction, printed on thick, high-quality card
You’re welcome to explore larger sizes if you’d like to live with the work on a bigger scale
Every print comes with the same quiet reassurance — no pressure, no obligation
Choose Your Print
Camel Mile Tea
The quiet act of taking care of yourself, even when everything else keeps moving.
There’s a strange expectation that we should just keep going — no matter how tired we are.
This piece came from noticing how easy it is to move through life without ever really stopping to look after yourself. Even small things, like rest or nourishment, start to feel like something you have to earn.
It’s a reminder that you don’t have to wait for everything to slow down before you take care of yourself.
The quiet act of taking care of yourself, even when everything else keeps moving.
It reflects how easy it is to keep moving without really stopping to look after yourself, until even rest starts to feel like something you have to earn..
$24.99 FREE!
*Just pay $9.99 shipping & handling fee
Carrying more than you let on, and continuing anyway.
It reflects how responsibility, pressure, and expectation can quietly build over time, until carrying it all just becomes part of who you are.
Not all at once, but gradually — piece by piece — until what once felt heavy starts to feel normal.
And even then, you keep going, often without ever really putting it down.
Carrying more than you let on, and continuing anyway.
It reflects how responsibility, pressure, and expectation can quietly build over time, until carrying it all just becomes part of who you are.
Not all at once, but gradually — piece by piece — until what once felt heavy starts to feel normal.
And even then, you keep going, often without ever really putting it down.
$24.99FREE!
*Just pay $9.99 shipping & handling fee
Wandering Burden
Animals of Thieving Wood
Finding your place among people who don’t quite fit anywhere else either.
It reflects how connection isn’t always found in the places we’re told to look, but in the quieter, more unlikely spaces where people come together in their own way.
Not because everything fits perfectly, but because something about it feels right.
And over time, that becomes enough to call it home.
Finding your place among people who don’t quite fit anywhere else either.
It reflects how connection isn’t always found in the places we’re told to look, but in the quieter, more unlikely spaces where people come together in their own way.
Not because everything fits perfectly, but because something about it feels right.
And over time, that becomes enough to call it home
$24.99 FREE!
*Just pay $9.99 shipping & handling fee
The quiet battles that happen where no one else can see them.
It reflects the kind of inner conflict that doesn’t always have a clear cause, but still takes up space — thoughts pulling in different directions, decisions that feel heavier than they should, and the mental noise that rarely settles for long.
Not every struggle looks dramatic from the outside.
Sometimes it’s just the constant effort of trying to keep order in your own mind.
The quiet battles that happen where no one else can see them.
It reflects the kind of inner conflict that quietly takes up space — thoughts pulling in different directions, decisions that feel heavier than they should, and the mental noise that rarely settles for long.
Not every struggle is visible.
Sometimes it’s simply the effort of trying to keep order in your own mind.
$24.99 FREE!
*Just pay $9.99 shipping & handling fee
Mightier than the Sword
About Dan
Dan is a surreal oil painter from eastern England and the person behind the MindShafts world — a growing collection of strange, story-driven works shaped by inner life, quiet observations, and the feelings that are often hardest to put into words.
He tends to spend a long time on each painting — often well over a hundred hours — building them slowly by hand until every part feels right. Each finished piece is then signed with his pseudonym, Dle3, a small signature often affectionately referred to as the “happy swan.”
Outside of painting, life is usually a mix of new ideas, unfinished thoughts, and trying to keep up with his energetic daughter
Copyright Dan Lee | MindShafts 2026