Many of these paintings on rice paper were made since my return from my painting Fellowship at the Schoolhouse, Mutianyu in China (August 2016) and continue some new ideas which began to evolve during my Fellowship. In China I experimented with inks and acrylic on large sheets of rice paper, using calligraphy brushes, and the ideas from these fed into my works on raw canvas (which can be seen in my China residency album) and these created a dialogue with my ongoing ink paintings. It is a constant back and forth of ideas, and in China this culminated in canvases that combined mixed media.

These ink works aim to extend some ideas and imagery that have stayed in my mind on my return to the UK. Certain elements became important as sources of colour and calligraphy - water, mountains, the Great Wall - and gave me inspiration for my calligraphic brushstrokes. I like to let the calligraphy direct the image; there is no pre-planned sketch or idea.

Scale is important to my ink paintings because the large size of paper (which I can cut to the size I require) enables me to use large brushes and gives a more creative arena for expressive calligraphy.

Recently I have begun to take elements from the ink paintings on rice paper on to thick watercolour paper which responds to the medium differently. I plan to develop the ink paintings on to very large canvases