In 2023, I began to feel that something in the way I was working no longer felt right.

At the time, I was painting primarily with acrylic. I understood the material, but increasingly felt that I was controlling too much of what happened on the surface.

I wanted movement.

I wanted a material that could respond rather than simply obey.

That search led me to alcohol ink.

Its behaviour was completely different. The ink moved with air, spread beyond the boundaries I intended and created forms I could influence but never fully predict.

At first, I approached it as a new technique to learn.

But quite quickly, the more important question became something else.

I was not interested in becoming technically proficient at reproducing effects I had already seen. I wanted to understand what this material could become in my own hands.

That distinction changed the direction of my practice.

Technique became less important than language. Control became less interesting than response. And experimentation gradually became part of the way I work rather than a stage I needed to complete.

Looking back, this was one of the earliest moments when I understood what I was actually searching for.

Not a technique I could master, but a visual language I could call my own.