I love nature. My primary training is in math and physics, and I love photography and computers. Photoshop and Illustrator were great eyeopeners for me and presented a new tool in my art palette. I'm fascinated by symmetries and rotations and translations in the plane, so viola....nature mandalas! I can plan what the outer "rings" of the mandala will look like but the center is always a surprise and delight.
This element of serendipity keeps me making mandalas! I've even "recycled" some of my old art pieces into mandalas.