The main source of my income is through the commissions of the large-scale works and big sculptures, the projects.

I soon realised that what had happened on a small scale cannot necessarily be repeated on a larger scale. The stones were so big that the amount of heat required was prohibitively expensive and wasteful.

The British climate, although it is very wet, it is quite mild in winter. We don't get these severe - generally don't get severe winters.

I'm cautious about using fire. It can become theatrical. I am interested in the heat, not the flames.

Confrontation is something that I accept as part of the project though not its purpose.

As with all my work, whether it's a leaf on a rock or ice on a rock, I'm trying to get beneath the surface appearance of things. Working the surface of a stone is an attempt to understand the internal energy of the stone.

Time gives growth, it gives continuity and it gives change. And in the case of some sculptures, time gives a patina to them.