I first began using twigs in the 1970s and was trying to incorporate them into my paintings. Most of these were unsatisfactory, but I kept trying to construct geometric forms with twigs. This led to resolving certain compositional problems in the Tango paintings resulting in the Tango 3-9 works. The works are almost always painted rather than left as plain wood because I believe wood sculpture — while attractive in itself — is too easy a response and should be painted. Recently it has been discovered that the wonderful Greek and Roman marble works were originally painted so I'm on their side. The problem with painting sculpture is many sculptors lack an understanding of color use and are focused mainly on form.

Inspired by research into indigenous maps and art I started making maps of imaginary places. This led to the creation of three dimensional twig sculptures strongly influenced by various indigenous cultural works. I am not attempting to co-opt, copy or represent the work of other cultures, but trying to make contemporary works inifluenced by them that new undiscovered cultures.