About Jillian

I hail from the Midwest; I was born in Columbus, Ohio and was raised in the suburbs of Hilliard on the west side of the city. My parents were both alumnus of The Ohio State University and made the capital city their home after graduation, and therefore, I did too. I attended Hilliard’s public schools from Kindergarten through twelfth grade. On that journey, I latched onto two things: art and outer space. To me, they were the same. I loved craft time with my grandmother, constantly humming my own tunes while gluing popsicle sticks or painting a bird house. But at school, I was introduced to the concept of “the solar system” where the sizes and distances between things were unfathomable, but the pictures were pretty. Somewhere along the way, between thumbing through advanced textbooks to the find the best galaxy pictures and learning the names of the planets in class, the Sam Neill space documentary “Space” made its way to the Yuricich family boxset. Mr. Neill reiterated the fact about the distances, but he had some new stories too.

I can’t remember much before those days. Loose memories of multiple summers at my grandparents’ farm. Space books began to accumulate on my shelves seemingly on their own. I received sketchbooks that I filled with doodles of horses and planets. Movies like The Right Stuff and Contact found me. In reality, it was my parents constantly feeding my insatiable little mind. My father, The Architect, and my mother, The Artist-Turned-Businesswoman, both just contributed what they loved. With a grandfather that flew planes and a dad who loved aviation, that world of engineering was a reflex more so than an interest. Sketching and painting, too. Both took time and learning and practice, but you wouldn’t be wrong if you used the phrase “in her blood” a time or two when describing my family and my hobbies.

These days, I get paid to be an engineer, but I haven’t lost that love of art and making art. In fact, I’d say I’m paid to be an artist too. Creativity and engineering are practically synonyms in my book. But when I paint, I get slightly more freedom and much fewer equations to dictate my path.

I’d like to take the time to thank the photographers whose work inspires my paintings. Without them, I wouldn’t have found this rendering style I enjoy so much.