My earliest memory of doing anything art related was sitting at my Nan and Grandads dark mahogany dining room table (in fact we still have two of their carva chairs, which I sit in now and paint). My Nan was a painter and worked in Water colours, and when I went to visit and stay the night she would hand me some printer paper, do you remember the type that was concertina paper that was perforated and had funny perforated edges? I think their neighbour, Micheal used to give them packs of it for me to draw on. I only had a few coloured pens, pencils and some crayons. But it didn’t matter, I loved to draw and escape into the pages and characters I used to make up. Fairy’s, animals that could talk, woodlands…oh the memories. My brother also drew and was so detailed, he would draw monsters, knights and houses where you could see the taps, curtains even the plates and cups in the sink. I still have some of his drawings. Sadly my brother, Christopher never got to be an adult artist as he lost his life at aged 9. I am determined to carry on the artistic flair in the family, and honour my Nan and brother. My dear Nan, Frances, introduced me to water colours, and I did my first full water colour painting at the age of 15. With her sitting right next to me calmly and patiently teaching me, giving me tips but she didn’t once tell me that I had done anything wrong and just left me to paint.
As a child I would draw as often as I could, even sometimes doodling in lessons in school. I knew from a very young age that I either wanted to be a vet or an artist. But at a young age I was told that artist don’t make money unless they were dead and that to be a successful artist you had to be famous. This was the first time I was told about the starving artisit archetype.
As I wasn’t very good at biology or any other subjects for that matter I felt stuck and didn’t know what I wanted to do after being told this numerous times about the starving artist. But I still continued to study art and photography, that never left me. I was extremely lucky that my parents always nurtured and supported my love of art and never discoraged me to go to any collage and then onto Uni to study textile patterns and Surface Design.
We’ve recently moved into a new home that needs renovations and my dear mother moved in with us. So I was able to go through some old boxes of mine and I found the painting that I did with my nan. I nearly cried with the burst of memories when I held that water colour paper. And it was then that I decided to use this kingfisher as my brand logo.
As you have probably worked out that my business name is Jo Frances in honour of my Nan but my middle name is also Frances. growing up I didn’t particularly like the name Frances and even my Nan was fed up with it, both her parents were called Frances/Francis and they named her older brother Francis/Frankie. So when u was born she asked my mum not to call me Frances, I thought it was old fashioned but now I’m older I love that my mum didn’t listen and gave me this name as my middle name. I feel honoured to have this name and continue the legacy of the Wilson family, especially as it was my Nan who cultivated my creativity.