Wow. Okay… so April was a little bit wild.

It’s actually taken me a few weeks to properly absorb it all - but I think I’m finally there… maybe.

So now I can finally tell you properly about the Artist Residency.

For those of you who may not know, April was the month my residency hosted by Sophie Tea finally happened. What originally began as an online competition entry for an Australian residency back in January 2024 somehow evolved into April 2026 in London - and honestly, I still can’t quite believe it unfolded the way it did.

Over 20,000 people entered. The Sophie Tea team shortlisted the final 50, and then the final residency places were decided by public vote.

And somehow… I won one of the five places.

Still feels surreal to type that.

And if you happened to vote for me all those years back - thank you. Truly.

Day 1 energy: The Residency Artists & Sophie Tea the host

So, Easter Sunday arrived and I travelled down to London, carrying what felt like my entire life in bags full of paints, camera equipment and essentials from my studio.

I met the artists I’d be living with for the next two weeks - one from Canada and one from the Netherlands - and very quickly our Airbnb became known as “summer camp”.

Monday morning arrived.

Bags packed. Nerves sky-high.

And then Sophie posted online announcing the residency was beginning, that we were being welcomed into the studio for two weeks… and that we’d also be putting on an exhibition at the end of it.

The exhibition was the following week.

It all felt real now.

When we arrived at the studio, each artist had been given a table, a section of wall space, access to art materials, a few canvases and even a disposable camera.
To shake off the adrenaline, we began with creative exercises - quick prompts, playful drawing tasks, passing work between each other after ten seconds. Silly at first glance perhaps, but honestly brilliant for loosening up, settling into the space and letting go of perfection.
Then suddenly… it began properly.

The following days became a blur of paint, conversation, experimentation and intense focus.

Each morning we woke up absolutely desperate to get back into the studio.

And each evening we left physically exhausted.

Not just from creating work, but from constantly absorbing - new people, new ideas, new ways of working, conversations inside the art world that you’d never normally witness from the outside.

It felt creatively invigorating in every possible way.

Of course, there were also moments of complete creative chaos.

We took part in some of Sophie’s famous dramatic paint-splat moments - genuinely throwing buckets of paint across giant surfaces and hoping for the best.

(For the record, my aim was terrible. It’s harder than it looks!!)

One large loose-canvas piece I began there using a “Sophie Splat” as the initial markings is now back in my Lake District studio waiting to be developed further when I have space for some creative play.

We also joined one of Sophie’s hugely popular “Charity Shop Fridays”, seeing firsthand the energy and momentum she’s built around her work and community over the years.

The whole experience constantly balanced freedom and pressure in equal measure:
creative exploration on one side, and on the other, the looming reality that an exhibition was approaching incredibly fast.

The weekend was spent wandering galleries across London, soaking up inspiration wherever we could find it.

Then suddenly it was Monday again.

Final exhibition week.

Invites had gone out. Only 100 public tickets available.

And somehow our chaotic, paint-covered studio now had to transform into a professional exhibition space within days.

Honestly… exhibition setup day was madness.

The four of us had gone from “creative mess” to simply just “mess”. Paint everywhere. Walls covered in accidental splats. Half-used palettes. Artwork everywhere.

We spent hours repainting the walls white - four coats, not two, as it turned out - while Sophie’s team rushed around preparing signage, labels and glasses for the evening ahead.

With about twenty minutes to spare, we somehow transformed from paint-covered studio creatures into vaguely presentable humans.

And then suddenly…
People arrived.
And it became one of those moments I think I’ll remember for a very long time.
Seeing my work hung on the walls in London after such an intense creative process felt incredibly surreal - and deeply rewarding too.
The evening was full of conversations, photographs, laughter, exhaustion and pride all tangled together.
And somehow, within two weeks of it all coming to fruition, two artworks have found homes already.

Meet The Collection…

I think one of the biggest things I took away from the residency was simply the experience of “change”.

So much of being an artist happens quietly and independently - calm days in the studio, long solitary stretches of focus, familiar routines and comforts.

And I truly love that part of this life.

But being pulled completely out of that rhythm and dropped into a shared creative environment full of newness, energy and experimentation was incredibly special.

Intense.
Inspiring.
Exhausting.
Wonderful.

And somehow, amongst all of that, I also managed to arrange a viewing for a potential London exhibition next summer.

A very different kind of project… but equally exciting.

What On Earth Was April? | Inside My Sophie Tea Artist Residency

Meet The Collection…

Something long awaited is finally beginning…