Rachel Shaw is a painter, illustrator, and fine artist based in Cornwall, weaving myth, memory, and emotion into visual form. Rachel's work is a meditation on transformation — a journey through the many faces of femininity, where vulnerability and strength coexist in quiet balance. Rooted in the figurative, Rachel's paintings and drawings trace the shifting boundaries between body and spirit, reality and reverie.

Rachel's practice draws upon ancient stories and personal mythologies, reimagining them through a contemporary lens. Narratives such as Leda and the Swan become vessels for exploring resilience and the reclamation of female agency, revealing moments of metamorphosis where power and tenderness entwine. The recurring motif of wings and angels speaks to her fascination with transcendence — a symbol of inner flight, of spirit rising beyond constraint.

Trained in Illustration and Authorial Practice, and a 2025 graduate of the University of Falmouth, Rachel approaches painting as both language and ritual. Oil paint anchors her work in material depth, while watercolour allows her to move with fluid intuition, following emotion as it unfolds on the page.

Each artwork begins as a conversation with the figure — a dance of line, rhythm, and breath. Through these gestures, Rachel seeks to uncover the unseen: the whisper of a story, the pulse of memory, the quiet resilience of the feminine spirit. Rachel's art is an act of reclamation — a search for meaning, agency, and grace within the ever-shifting landscape of the self.