Self-appointed Residency

Why and how I'm doing it.

It’s been a long month away from my studio and from holding any art materials in my hands. I am just itching to start making a mess again, and cannot wait to get back into messing around with my papers and stories. The act of making and creating is such a big part of who I am, that even while holidaying or taking a break, I still find myself needing to make something in any way, shape or form (in this case it was supervising my cats while they made their little masterpieces with their tiny peets and a now very hairy water-based ink pad). This was the first time I left home without my sketchbook - knowing I wouldn’t have the time to dedicate to my drawing, I thought I’d give it a shot. In short: it did not work. Being an illustrator and creative is not something I choose to be, it is who I am. So note to future self: always carry your sketchbook.

This month has given me some time to reflect on what I would like to do with the rest of the year and it almost feels like a less pressured period of New Year’s resolutions which I’m totally here for!

I’ve decided to appoint myself an art residency. I’ve already got the studio space, my materials, my creativity (which is in check on most days), and setting a formal timeline might do some good for me and the work. Sometimes it feels like time is ticking away, and I am not utilising it to the best of my abilities, my intention since the start of the year was to start work on a second picture book, SO … here we go.

The biggest challenge I will probably face is eliminating and ignoring distractions (in this case the term distraction is used to define anything that stops me from getting my rump to the studio and doing work) - or at least most of them (being realistic here, I know some distractions need to be addressed). I’ve dedicated time to many things these past few months and feel that the work now deserves my full and undivided attention to get back to making some magic!

I’ll be splitting these next 3 months into 1. a research phase 2. experimentation + mess-making phase (the phase I’m mostly looking forward to) 3. physical implementation phase. I feel like this will give me enough time to dedicate to each part of the residency, without fiddling around too much with the details and ‘perfection’, and basically to get the work done. Writing it down and sharing it with you here really gives the whole thing a sense of confirmation and permanence so this should keep me accountable.

I want to be consistent and show up every day, even if the day only allows for a few minutes of creating, as I have a rather busy summer ahead but I’m pushing to treat this as the full-time job it is, with no excuses, no ifs, no buts, no coconuts. Employer Fran has decided to engage in a no-excuses work environment for Employee Fran. 💩 Lezgo!

If you have any recommendations or tips on how to best to navigate a residency, maybe even ways of motivation during less creative days, please fire them my way - any help of any kind will definitely be welcomed!

I hope you’ll be joining me on this next endeavour as I am so excited to share the progress with you! If you’d like to stay up-to-date with this project, and all other storees, offers and products, hit the Subscribe button below ✨

Hiya! If you're new to my stack. I'm Fran, I'm an illustrator and picture book maker living in Edinburgh, Scotland.

Gee's Storees originally started as a quarterly newsletter and has slowly evolved into this Substack publication. Here, I share news and updates on my work, behind-the-scenes content as well as insight into my journey in the magical world of children’s publishing and illustration ✨ Hope you'll join our lovely community, I am looking forward to getting to know you!