Fran describes her artwork as mostly figurative and inspired by nature. She admits, when she started painting she knew nothing about it, but began painting the environment, landscapes and animals near her home near Silsden.

Her husband introduced her to a gallery in Ilkley and the owner, after seeing Fran’s work, asked her to provide her pictures for sale there on an ongoing basis. “The gallery owner knew from experience that what people like to buy are animals and scenes that they can put on their walls in their homes,” she said. “So I found myself every weekend painting, to replace something that had sold in the gallery. This drew me into doing a lot of paintings of nature but since taking a studio full time, I want to break out of that a bit and be a bit more experimental.”

Fran works in a range of media, mixing acrylics with charcoal, pastels and ink. She also specialises in watercolour, having made this a priority to master from the start. She says watercolour techniques have helped her develop her use of other media. She points to her painting of a zebra. “I draw and paint quickly and loosely, and you can see the brush strokes in my work. Here, the zebra’s neck is less defined than the head. That's a sort of deliberate device. I aim to achieve results by interpretation, putting subject matter into my own unique style, so you can tell it’s by me.”

About 15 years ago, Fran undertook a foundation course run in the evenings over two years at Leeds College of Art, during which she realised that she had a very versatile skill set. She also found out that the College ran a degree course in surface pattern design. “If I had my time again, I would have done a degree in something like that because it's learning using technology to monetise your work by putting it into seamless repeat patterns, which can then be printed on any surface.

“So, I taught myself because to use Photoshop for surface pattern design, because I couldn’t afford to do the course.

“It took me a long time to learn before I started having a go at offering patterns to one of the industry platforms called Patternbank. They sell patterns to the big fashion brands like Nike and next. They will buy licensed patterns or patterns that are premium because they're exclusive.

“I got accepted and I've sold quite a few patterns on Patternbank.”

Fran regularly submits work to local exhibitions. She is a member of Craven Arts and North Arts. She sells work at local events and is gearing up to sell more online through ‘Saatchi Art’ and ‘Artfello’ websites as well as her own website, where she will introduce a shop.

Fran has an art history degree from Warwick University and studied paper conservation at Camberwell School of Arts and Crafts before working at the British Museum. She then developed her career in communications, specialising in print production after completing a post graduate diploma in printing and publishing at London College of Printing. She transferred these skills into managing press and public relations in government and professional services companies before retiring in 2024.

Fran became involved with Keighley Creative after being introduced to fellow studio holder Jane Fielder and joining her drawing classes. After talking to other studio holders she registered her interest and was offered a room.

“I saw the little room and thought, well, this is great. I can be part of a community and that's very important, to keep you alive and plugged in and I'm really enjoying it. I've got to know people and there's all this exciting development to look forward to with the new venue.”

Finally, Fran said: “I am really keen that people think commercially about art. It’s good to be able to make it pay, especially to cover the cost of all the materials and travel. There’s so much work goes into getting pieces on display and people often don’t appreciate that. All this has to be part of the sale cost of a work of art.”

In 2025, Fran was invited by the Broughton Sanctuary near Skipton to become their Rewilding Artist in Residence. This is an ongoing collaboration that will see her work hung in properties across the Broughton Estate and for sale at Broughton-led events.

Some of her work can be seen on her website www.franelliott.com and her Instagram page https://www.instagram.com/e.fran.