Take a Look at Who I'd Rather Be Talking About... Meet Jo Scott
A UK artist who's (literally)on the move, and reminding us that when it comes to living out our dreams, we need to change "I'll do it one-day" to "let's do it now."
It’s time for another issue of Who I’d Rather Be Talking About… a little branch of my regular newsletter, where I interview interesting people from all over the world who are doing cool things that make us stop and think, “Wow, I didn’t know that was possible. What can I do?”
This week we’re headed to the UK to meet an award-winning artist, illustrator, and Substacker who is taking her talent on the road and living her best life with her husband - traveling, exploring, and doing her art in a Motorhome.
I’m thrilled to introduce Jo Scott and share her inspiring story.
It just might make you want to start living out your bucket list dreams right now!
Let’s meet Jo.
First, can you tell us a bit about your background?
I’m an artist, based in the UK. Being an artist is a second career for me which I started in my forties after working for 20 years with larger arts venues.
In 2020, my husband and I made the decision to fit more travel in our lifestyle.
Now, for 4-6 months every year, my husband, our dog, and I travel in our Motorhome around the UK, Europe, and further afield.
No more putting things off for our retirement!
Next year, we have Mongolia, Ecuador, and Antarctica in our sights.
I run my art business while we travel. I paint pet portraits for private customers, work with other companies on freelance illustration projects, and design for greeting card marketplaces such as Moonpig and Thortful.
I also sell a small amount of original art pieces, prints, and merchandise via my website. I try to fit in 2-3 in-person exhibitions per year, too. (Think portfolio career with more than a single revenue stream.)
How has your career and art evolved over the years?
I realised early on in my career that one of my key drivers for enjoying my work were the people I was working with. And if I wasn’t enjoying myself, then I wasn't very productive.
At art college, I wasn’t ‘conceptual’ enough. Looking back, had I been shown illustration as an option, things may have been different.
But I switched to a more academic course; I did a Masters Degree when I was a bit too young, not so confident and working with challenging contemporaries. I was unhappy.
While you can’t guarantee a healthy corporate working environment, I managed to stumble upon one with some great people. I ended up working as an Account Manager for some big arts venues including Tate Galleries, The Royal Collection and The Barbican Centre in London.
Also, I’d always painted and sketched throughout my life; a sketchbook would always come with me on my holidays.
So, when the people changed at work and it became less enjoyable, I tuned into the idea of setting up in business myself. 15 years ago, I started the transition, went part time and eventually gave up the day job entirely.
Can you tell us how you combine art and travel?
My husband and I have always loved travel. We’ve never settled down anywhere and the longest time we’ve stayed in one location full time is 6 years. We had regularly talked about getting a van and travelling around the UK and Europe.
In 2019, it changed from a ‘one-day’ thing into ‘lets do this now’ thing. My guilty pleasure is watching van life videos on YouTube. I’d been watching ‘Wild We Roam’ when they had their van ‘Odi’ and were travelling around Europe.
I caught myself thinking, “Gosh I wish I’d done that when I was their age.”
All the alarm bells went off in my head and I gave myself a stern talking to, I was hardly past it!
Around the same time, I saw an interview with Bronnie Ware, an ex-palliative care nurse and author of The Top 5 Regrets of the Dying.
I got the book and discussed both of these things with my husband.
We agreed we needed to start putting dates to some of our ideas.
In 2020, we researched vans, bought one, and at the earliest opportunity post-pandemic, took off. We’ve been travelling ever since.
How many trips per year do you take?
We make at least three trips a year - usually wintering in southern Europe for a few months and then have a trip around different parts of England Scotland, Ireland and Wales - all in the Motorhome.
We also have a secondary list of places we want to visit.
Next year we have Mongolia, Ecuador and Antarctica in our sights. So we’ll have at least 5 trips. In Mongolia, my husband is running in an Ultra Marathon and I’ll work as a volunteer at the race that’s organized by Racing the Planet. Just volunteering at any of their races can be life changing, never mind taking part!
Concerning costs… we’ve budgeted and saved up for Ecuador and Antarctica, but the rest of our travel is part of our regular lifestyle.
How did you start sharing your creative process and travel adventures on Substack?
I'm really quite a nosey person… I love speaking to other artists and talking shop with them. I love nothing more than looking at someone else's sketchbook, and I know I’m not the only one.
I’d been running my own monthly newsletter from my website for over ten years, it’s popular and a lot of customers told me they looked forward to it and enjoyed reading it.
When I became aware of Substack in 2023, I thought there was an opportunity to share more including our travels, and I started interviewing other artists and writing about my success and my failures in running my own business.
I saw there might be an opportunity for additional revenue, which would fit with our travelling lifestyle. I was right but perhaps not in the way I expected.
All of my content is free - paid subscribers are those that love my work and just want to support me, or artists who want to be able to chat to me in person and ask me questions directly.
Substack has increased my visibility, and traffic and sales from my website have increased in direct correlation to an increase in my subscriber numbers.
That’s been the best thing about Substack - not only are the people I meet here fabulous, but more of my work is being seen all over the world.
Can you tell us a bit about your interview series?
I have an artist interview series, with artists I hand pick. The series is about sharing other artists’ work to my audience, it’s me saying to everyone ‘Look at this, I love it, what do you think?’ Karin Celestine, who makes amazing felt animals and authors some amazing books, was actually the inspiration behind the series.
They’re artists I love, who have inspired me, or have a story to tell that really caught my attention.
I’m very excited about my latest interview with artist Sara Abbott, who has painted a lot of dogs and animals. I’ve known Sara for over 10 years - she was very generous with sharing information with me when we first met. I have one of her amazing landscapes at home, she’s also been travelling in her van for the past 8 years. Like everyone else in my series, she’s an all round inspiration.
Can you tell us about how you incorporate dogs in your work?
Growing up, my first love was Snoopy, from about the age of five I was hooked and have been ever since, I've still got my original Snoopy Cuddly Toy and he's now a mascot in my art studio in the UK.
I also grew up with dogs and now have Thomasina, a terrier of mixed origin. She’s travelled extensively from Paris, through the Swiss Alps, France, Spain, Portugal, all over Europe and is very much the inspiration for a lot of my work. I’d been painting a lot of different animals when I first launched my business, but it was always my dog and cat paintings that got the most attention.
There came a point whenI realized my dog and cat paintings and greeting cards sold best, so I decided that’s where my focus would be.
It was almost like giving myself permission to just paint dogs and cats and whilst I do paint other animals every so often I haven’t really looked back.
I paint for an audience, we all have a joint love of our pets and it’s through my paintings I get to share my love of dogs and connect with others who feel the same or who want to give that special gift to a friend or a loved one.
Thomasina doesn’t travel as much now, she’s nearly 13 and it’s a bit more stressful for her on long drives. So for the longer trips away, we leave her with a family member to be spoilt and pampered while we’re away.
Tell us about life on the road - how do you keep your art and your systems organized?
I’ll have to be honest, it’s a bit messy!
The solution that works best for me is time-blocking. It’s almost impossible to keep up with demand for the seasonal release of greeting card designs, in person events and private commissions without setting some boundaries around my time.
When we’re in the UK, I open up for about 4 months of the year for painting my watercolour commissions. Once I’m at capacity, people have to wait for the following year. My digital oil commissions were created so I could paint them and deliver them whilst travelling.
I can supply any wholesale stockist in the UK because of the printer I work with who prints, packs, and delivers wholesale orders on my behalf. And, I pick reliable licensing and print on demand partners to work with fulfilling orders from my website.
When we’re travelling, my focus is then on marketing, newsletters, ideas for new paintings, new card designs and sketchbooking.
I work early mornings 6am-9am and some evenings, so I can have the day free to explore. It’s not perfect and sometimes it doesn’t work at all, I may sacrifice a visit somewhere because of a deadline or I’m just too distracted by our location!
If someone wanted to start a creative business while traveling, what’s one piece of advice you’d give them?
Try it! Go travelling for a couple of weeks and see what you can and can’t do. Have a trial run. Look at all of the things you produce in your business and see what items are location dependent, do you sell your work at a physical location or exhibition - can you travel around those dates?
Can you physically do your work while travelling? I couldn’t bring my oil painting practice with me for example, too small a space to work in and too messy, so I transferred my painting to a digital practice and rented a studio space in the UK so I can paint there when we’re visiting.
It might be too stressful, or not at all how you imagined it would be, but you won’t know until you actually try it. You don’t need to commit to it full time to give it a go. Travel for you might not look like a van either, it could be renting an Airbnb somewhere for a month and then coming home.
You also mentor other creatives - can you tell us a bit about how this started, and what that service looks like?
I don’t think we always realise all of the knowledge and experience we accumulate. Over the last few years I’ve been approached various times by artists who want to ask me specific advice about several aspects of my business from the Show’s I attend, to how pricing works to what licensing is and the marketing processes I have implemented.
I have been offering 1:1 sessions via my website for the last year or so, and I run the occasional online workshop. But this is also where Substack has come into play, I’ve written a lot about my experiences and my business practice which is available to paid subscribers, much of what I write about is free. I also run monthly ask me anything sessions online, with a replay and I provide an accountability session to help people move forward with their work.
I’ve been told I’m very open and honest about what has and has not worked for me. I stress to people that what worked for me 10 years ago wouldn’t always work today because the creative industry has changed, so I like to encourage others to think for themselves, guide them to follow their gut, and help them trust and try things based on their instincts.
Art supplies you won’t leave home without: My Blackwing 602 pencil and Tombow calligraphy pen.
Country: Nope, impossible to choose, but Japan is the one I most want to return to see more of.
Meal while traveling: I make a variation of sweet and sour chicken with steamed Broccoli in the motorhome. Also, fresh bread and croissants are a must when in France!
Wellness or comfort tip on the road: a home facial, noise-cancelling headphones, and several soft pillows to prop you up while watching films. And don't forget Yorkshire Tea bags!
Travel gear you won’t leave home without: Battery Chargers, Plug adapter, Trainers, Phone, Sketchbook, crossbody bag
Bucket List Trip: Galapagos Islands
Best places for motorhome travel in Europe: Everywhere, seriously, from Scandinavia to Germany, the Netherlands, Croatia, Belgium, France, Italy, Spain, to Portugal. They all have excellent infrastructure for motorhomes. The UK is improving in some areas and has plenty of campsites, but Europe is generally more affordable, easier, and more welcoming to motorhomes.
Packing tip: You really don’t need as much as you think you do. However, be sure to bring a decent, waterproof jacket!
Advice for someone who wants to travel in an RV/motorhome: Try it, and make sure you’re okay with emptying the toilet cassette - this can be a deal-breaker for some. If you’re traveling with someone else, you both need to be 100% up for it and comfortable in each other’s personal space. When it rains for seven days straight, you can spend a lot of time up close and personal.
Podcast:Strangers on a Bench by Tom Rosenthal
Book Rec: Well, it used to be The Salt Path, but after the latest controversy around it, I’ve switched to The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron or anything by Richard Osman.
Mantra: “If not now, when?”
And what a wonderful reminder to end this lovely interview.
