Ian Houlton

I am a solar pyrographer, in that I burn images onto wood using a magnifying glass, and no one believes me when I say that. It takes 8m 10s for the sun’s rays to hit Earth, the thing that grips me is that those very same rays began their lives over 170,000 years ago at the centre of the sun, swirling round to the outside until they head for Earth. I catch some ancient heat and make stuff, that’s how I see it. I can think of nothing else that inspires me quite like that fact, and I cannot think of any more a purer way to create things that people like or want. I suffer terribly with PTSD, and Solar art is the single most thing that takes me away, if I think wrong, or move wrong I can ruin hours of work. It is a gift from the sun.