Frances’s life began surrounded by animals on a farm at the edge of Exmoor. Art was always a favourite subject, but as she grew older she became interested in sailing, travelling, and black-and-white photography. After a Foundation course at Camberwell School of Art & Crafts, Frances began her professional career as a photographer in London, whilst also crewing on motor yachts, racing yachts and sail boats around the world.
Ten years and a career pivot later, she built up a fresh portfolio while taking life drawing classes from Michael Werner, a gifted teacher who encouraged his students to ‘dance the image onto the page’. In 1989, Frances moved to Scotland to take a degree in Drawing & Painting at Edinburgh College of Art.
After winning the Andrew Grant Travel Scholarship in 1991 (where she travelled to Kenya and compared artwork made by European and indigenous artists portraying East African wildlife), and the Catriona White Prize for Excellence in Draftsmanship (1992), Frances had her first solo show in 1993 at the college in the sculpture court - her large charcoal drawings described by W. Gordon Smith as “imaginative life studies and dark essays on the relationship between homo sapiens and the rest of the animal kingdom”. By now, animals were central to Frances’s work.
Following art school she held a number of residencies: Resident Artist at Edinburgh Zoo in 1993 (highly successful solo shows at the Zoo and Churchill College, Cambridge, both in aid of wildlife conservation); Resident Artist at Little Ash Eco Farm, Dartmoor in 1994 (solo show in support of cognitive studies with animals); and Resident Artist at the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Edinburgh in 1995 (solo show in 1996 in support of the Small Animal Hospital).
For the next 15 years, her drawings focused on the working relationship between man and animal - following a team of farriers shoeing horses around East Lothian and at The Royal Highland Show, as well as drawing at the Perth Bull Sales and Kelso Ram Sales.
Drawing directly from life unposed subjects, often in motion, is at the heart of Frances’s work. Despite her love of photography, it has no place in her art practice. Whilst the camera ‘catches’ reality, drawing - with practice - distils what is seen by the artist. “Photography is an immediate action; drawing a meditation.” - Henri Cartier-Bresson.
Frances has previously exhibited at Compass Gallery (Glasgow), Cyril Gerber Fine Art (Glasgow), The Scottish Gallery (Edinburgh), The Equestrian Society (London), The House of Bruar (Perthshire), Peter Potter Gallery (Haddington), Atholl Gallery (Dunkeld), Royal College of Physicians (Edinburgh), Flat Cat Gallery (Lauder) and Red Barn Gallery (Penrith).
In recent years, her main projects have spanned from a mountain farm in France, to a sheep farm in Northumberland, to regular drawing safaris in Kenya. The Lockdown years brought her closer to home, drawing the Flockhart’s waterfowl in Humbie - the duck pen being a perfect outdoor atélier for observing and drawing the fleeting actions of waterfowl.
She has also been a member of Edinburgh Printmakers for many years, enjoying the different processes of printmaking as a way to develop some of her drawings.