After years of keeping myself happily afloat making mosaics and sculpture I decided on a change for 2011. I had a lovely last mosaic project lined up in India working for the incredible Nek Chand at his wonderful Rock Garden in January. This fell through for various reasons, so I decided instead to use my time in India to visit and study some of the traditional artists I knew existed but whose work I had never seen.

This involved finding some of the most out of the way places in the country, places that tourists rarely go. I took a sketchbook, but really the emphasis was on soaking up what I saw visually – looking, looking and more looking.

This paid off and I found exactly what I was searching for. It wasn’t easy!

So this year is a drawing year. No colour, not yet anyway, just pure and simple black and white.

Now you can follow me and my pens as I begin the long journey back into drawing and who knows, by the end of the year we just might see colour make an appearance! I do hope we will…