Grimbarians Blog

Our current Artist in Residence, Francesca Young, is here to tell us about her journey so far.

My love of art started from a young age; I used to love painting with my nana and couldn’t wait for the Saturday morning art classes at S&A Frames in Cleethorpes. Art was always my favourite subject at school and I was lucky enough to have some very inspiring teachers who really spurred me on and got me to try lots of different styles of working. I then went on to study art at college and then at Loughborough University where I did a degree in Fine Art. I absolutely loved spending full days in the studio or the library painting and studying art (although possibly hungover after many nights out!). This was where I first started painting Cleethorpes. 

For my final project at Uni I became obsessed with Cleethorpes’ history as a Victorian seaside town. I spent lots of time digging through old imagery from books and postcards - the bright, almost garish tones found in those first colour postcards or the vibrant 1960’s saturated hues have always been a big inspiration. I loved the idea that all of this colourful history is still within the buildings left standing today, yet slightly more crooked and wonky than they once were.

After Uni I did a PGCE to teach art, but after this me and my partner decided to move to Spain to teach English as a way to travel and live abroad. This was the start of 4 and a half years living in various cities around Spain. Although I was teaching, in my free time I documented everything in sketchbooks - favourite places, favourite restaurants, favourite foods (there is going to be a theme..). I even had a little exhibition of my work in Bilbao where we lived for two years. I loved to paint the colourful, old Basque architecture alongside the famous landmarks and places to visit (and the food of course, the pintxos were incredible!) This was where I really started to use the techniques and materials I use now, which is mainly watercolour and pen.

In our last year in Spain we lived in Granada in Andalusia. It’s a beautiful historic city with Moorish influences and the best place to get free tapas with any drink (yes, it was all free and sometimes you could choose your free tapas from a menu!). I loved painting the narrow, Morrocan style streets of the Albacín and the view from the top of The Alhambra Palace. It was in the March of that year that the pandemic hit and we were stuck inside during a strict Spanish lockdown. Although I loved living in Spain I was starting to get really homesick and missed my family and friends, so I started painting where I wanted to be - which was home.

I was still teaching English online but I had so much more time to paint. Using the style I had developed throughout Spain, I started painting Grimsby and Cleethorpes. The ideas came quickly as I started writing down all of my favourite places I was missing so much; the beach, restaurants, shops, cafes, bars and of course the historical landmarks that make our town so recognisable. I try to combine lots of elements into one painting so they lie somewhere between reality and the imagination. I love to use vibrant, exaggerated colours to add to this dreamy, nostalgic state in the hope of capturing a little of the past alongside the present landscape of today.

This started out as just a hobby but people were messaging me and asking if they could buy prints of my paintings - I couldn’t believe it! We decided to come home for the Summer after Lockdown to see family and friends and I started selling my work as a way to make some extra money over the Summer before heading back to Spain. But things just began to take off; I started selling my work in the local shop Original Emporium, taking part in local craft markets and taking on commissions. By the end of the Summer I realised I was making enough money to live on as a full time job - I was astounded!!

With constant lockdowns and unstable teaching jobs to return to in Spain, we decided to move home so I could pursue my dream of becoming a full time artist. If not then, I don’t think there would have ever been a better time. It's been two years now and although I really miss the free tapas (!) I am loving living back in Cleethorpes and can’t believe I get to say that my job is doing what I love.

During the past two years I’ve been working on lots of paintings celebrating the beauty of our town and have started getting them printed onto luxury homeware products like tea towels, coasters and mugs. I even have some 1000 piece puzzles coming which I’m VERY excited about! I sell my work on my website plus I’m still in the local shop Original Emporium which is amazing to be a part of. We have over 40 local artists and makers and it’s such a supportive community. The shop also hosts markets now and we have some exciting Christmas ones coming up (details on social media). The business side of things can be really hard so I’m still learning a lot but I wouldn’t be able to do any of it without my amazing family. They help me so much especially my mum, if you’ve seen me at any markets you will have seen her by my side chatting away.

This year I’ve started going into schools to give art workshops which I love and I’ve taken part in some brilliant local projects like ‘Paint The Town Proud’ with Creative Start and The Culture House. Plus I love being the artist in residence for The Grimbarians, we’ve recently designed a t-shirt together and we’ve got lots of exciting things coming up…

Thank you for reading, I hope you’ve enjoyed hearing a bit about my background!

Francesca x

You can support both Francesca Young and Grimbarians C.I.C by ordering our latest Artist in Residence t-shirt through our online shop. Contact Fran directly at https://francescayoungart.uk/contact.