Hi, there! I am creative scientist lucky enough to be born into a sciency & creative family. I have been sewing, crafting, & building anything I could get my hands on (legos, Barbie houses, IKEA furniture, lab equipment, you name it) since I was a child, and finally started painting in my 30's. I was inspired to start drawing and painting mandalas after my position ended at a medical device company and I was finally able to fully dedicate my time to my second graduate degree program (in Counseling Psychology at Pacifica Graduate Institute) and my blossoming teaching career (mostly undergraduate neuroscience).

Many people come to coloring, drawing, or painting mandalas at times of transition in their lives & I was no different. Not fully a scientist anymore and not yet a licensed psychotherapist, I have been straddling these two worlds in a transition lasting for over two years now. In drawing and painting mandalas I have begun to integrate disparate parts of my self and am learning to trust myself more fully every day. I even wrote my master's thesis on using a daily mandala practice to connect with one's inner intuitive self.

After creating so many mandalas for so long, I felt compelled to paint outside of the circle & began to paint intuitive abstracts. The layers of acrylic paint often follow a similar pattern & mimic my personal developmental stages, thus my intuitive paintings can be considered abstracted self-portaits (not so different from my mandalas). I hope you see some of yourself in them as well, as I believe that I am painting the universality of the development of a true Self.

In my academic life, as a lecturer at a state university, I am passionate about inspiring others to learn about neuroscience and psychology. This desire to inspire others carries over to my artistic life, where I hope to inspire others through my personal art as well as through offering intuitive mandala workshops.

Love & light!! Rachel