The idea of smoke as a medium first came to me approximately 12 years ago when I saw a purely random abstract monochrome image which had apparently been created by a plume of smoke. I was taken by its delicacy and free form, ironically it seemed to resemble water more than anything. I was quite excited at the possibilities, particularly of vagueness, something that had always interested me. My first smoke paintings were executed with the thought that the medium was like a fully loaded brush, there was no initial drawing out and it was very much serendipity.
The vehicle in watercolour painting is water, in oil painting it is linseed oil/turpentine and in the medium of smoke it is air i.e. the particles of carbon are carried by warm rising air to the support (paper, card etc.)

Smoke as a drawing medium is of course fundamentally flawed - it is tremendously volatile and a line cannot be drawn with it, but perhaps more importantly you can easily ignite your paper and burn down your studio! Smoke is a unique medium that is not drawn, painted, printed, rubbed, flicked, blown or sprayed on - so what could we say - air borne? It can create the most beautiful blacks, that are 'luminous' and have depth to the extent that charcoal is flat and pale next to it. It an also create melting, nebulous edges and a great range of tones to rival those of photography.