Diana’s Hidden Drawings: Record, Share, Inspire

Aim

Diana’s art archive is moving home. Help her daughter record it to keep sharing joy, comfort and connection - and own an exclusive print.

“I'm worried about my arts and crafts, look after my arts and crafts.”

Mum said those exact words as she handed me her final 301 drawings, tucked inside an old envelope I had once posted to her. She died three months later, on New Year's Eve 2019.

For nearly fifty years, my mum, “outsider artist” Diana Francis, created 1,184 intricate pattern drawings, each annotated, signed and dated. Making art gave her sanctuary, expression and respite through mental illness, trauma and addiction. Much of her extraordinary work remained unseen during her lifetime.

After all these years, Mum’s artwork has found a new permanent home.

In 2027, Diana's archive will join Wellcome Collection (a museum and library exploring health, art and what it means to be human). There, her original drawings will be cared for and, over time, made available to future generations to explore and understand her art and life. It's everything I could have wished for her.

But I need your help so I can keep sharing her art and story to help and inspire others.

Before the archive leaves my home, I want to create my own complete, high-quality digital record of her work, through professional photography and scanning. While Wellcome will safeguard and provide access to the originals, this digital archive will allow me to continue bringing Diana's drawings directly to people through creative health workshops, offering opportunities for connection, comfort and self-expression. It will also allow me to keep researching and exploring her work through textiles, exhibitions and publications. Having a digitised copy of the collection will allow me to open up new possibilities for sharing her story and reaching more people.

Please help me raise £17,500 by 31st January to photograph and digitise Diana's archive, so I can keep reaching and inspiring others with her work and story, as only her daughter can.

Take a piece of Diana’s creative world home

I've selected ten of Mum's extraordinary drawings to offer as prints, available exclusively through this Crowdfunder. I hope they'll find their way into new homes, where they can be enjoyed and appreciated, while helping me continue sharing her work and story.

Each drawing is a world of its own, filled with the marks, rhythms and details that make her work so distinctive.

From £30 you can choose a print of Diana’s work available in sizes ranging from A4 to A2. 

There’s also a set of greeting cards, the Mind to Pen activity book, and a private viewing of her original drawings before they leave my home. By choosing a reward, you're helping me look after Mum's life's work while bringing her creativity into your own home.

A lifetime of making

Diana (1951–2019) began drawing in the 1970s, “clutching a lonely pen and oddment of paper,” as she later wrote. She called her intricate, repetitive patterns in felt tip and biro “mind to pen” mark-making.

She was a dedicated mother, gentle but eccentric, who knitted playful cardigans for her children, with their nicknames and favourite things knitted into the design. Later, she created sculptures from discarded materials - a unique body of work for the Fine Art degree she completed at 60.

Throughout her life, Diana faced trauma, grief and illness. Through it all, art remained her refuge and quiet companion. Describing her work, she once wrote: “My hands are my voice.”

Bringing Diana's drawings to more people

Mum taught me to stitch when I was young. Her detailed patterns - hidden in a wardrobe but shared with me in quiet moments shaped my imagination and eventually led me to a career in couture embroidery design.

I grew up knowing how much drawing helped her, so when mum was at her lowest, I would encourage her to draw - and hundreds of daily drawings would follow. But her addiction eventually broke our relationship - I lost her a decade before she died.

After her death, I found comfort in embroidery and meaning in her archive, translating her drawings into stitch. Through making, I've found a way to reconnect with her and share her remarkable creative legacy.

That work has grown into something much bigger.

360 people, from hospice patients, to young carers and people experiencing homelessness, have participated in my drawing and stitching workshops inspired by Diana's artworks and our story. 

Earlier this year, 16,857 people saw our work exhibited together at The Beaney in Canterbury. One visitor wrote:

“Every minute in this space felt therapeutic. Thank you family for showing me the hope.”

At a hospice workshop, one participant arrived “wishing the fog clears” and left feeling “the light is shining through.”

These experiences have shown me how Diana's drawings can offer connection, comfort and creative expression to others. With a complete digital record of her archive, I can continue bringing her work into workshops and reaching more people through the stories and creativity we share.

Where your money goes

Your donations will fund the creation of a complete, professional-quality digital record of Diana's archive before it moves to Wellcome Collection. This includes:

• Photographing and digitising the archive: Professionally documenting 1,184 drawings; 850 letters and papers, capturing every detail in high resolution.
• Preparing the images for future use: Editing and scanning artworks so Diana's patterns can continue to be reproduced in textiles, publications and exhibitions.
• Keeping the artwork in people's hands: Producing high-quality prints for future creative workshops across the charity and public sector.

This is a substantial undertaking. With 1184 drawings and 850 papers and letters to document, each piece needs to be carefully handled, photographed, edited and catalogued. The artworks will also be professionally scanned to capture the intricate patterns of Mum’s drawings. It’s a time-consuming process requiring specialist skills and equipment, but it’ll give me a high-quality record of her life’s work.

The fundraising target also covers the production of rewards for this Crowdfunder.

Please help me look after her arts and crafts

Diana’s archive leaves my home in 2027, and this is a vital moment for me to ensure I have a digital copy of the collection to keep it close to my heart, and to continue reaching people through my personal practice.

Wellcome will care for her drawings and open them up to visitors and researchers for generations. I’d love to create a complete record that remains mine to hold, share and explore with others. With it, I can more easily keep taking mum’s artwork into hospices, day centres and workshops, sharing our story in person, creating further opportunities for people to connect with Diana’s work. 

Please donate what you can to help me reach £17,500 by 31st January. From £30, you can choose a print of Diana’s work. Every contribution, large or small, will help me record her archive before it leaves my home.

And if you can, please share this campaign with others who might connect with Diana's story, particularly those who have experienced mental illness or addiction themselves, or supported a loved one through it.

Mum asked me to look after her arts and crafts. Finding them a permanent home is one way I've kept that promise. With your help, I can continue sharing her work with the world.

Explore Diana's prints

Here are some reproductions of Diana’s drawings, available as prints exclusively for this Crowdfunder. Frames are not included.

All artworks by Diana Francis. © Rachelle Francis

More about the project

Discover the story behind Diana’s drawings and her first public exhibition, held posthumously, in this short film by Tom Shrapnel (2023).

Funding method

Keep what you raise – this project will receive all pledges made by 31st January 2027 at 11:59pm