Jill is a West Yorkshire–based painter and photographer whose practice has come full circle, returning to painting after decades of socially engaged community arts work. With a BA (Hons) in Fine Art (1988) and an MA in Photography (2022) from Leeds Arts University, her current work brings photographic observation into an expressive painting practice rooted in a deep love of nature.

Her landscapes, particularly those shaped by the sea, are driven by atmosphere, movement and emotional resonance. Drawing from photographic studies, she translates shifting light, coastal weather and tidal rhythm into gestural, intuitive paint handling. The sea becomes both subject and metaphor — a space of reflection, power and renewal.

Alongside her studio practice, she has had a significant career in community arts and mental health. A qualified Mental Health Nurse (RMN, 1995–2004) and Teacher in Further Education (Level 5 Diploma, 2018), she founded The Creative Butterfly Project in 2016, working in partnership with domestic abuse organisations to facilitate recovery through creative process. The project became a Community Interest Company in 2017 and was recognised nationally, reaching the finals of the National Lottery Awards for Best Art Project in the UK.

Under her direction, The Creative Butterfly Project secured major funding, including a £10,000 National Lottery Award (2018) and multiple grants from the West Yorkshire Police Commissioner’s Safer Communities Fund. In 2020, during the Covid-19 lockdown, she self-published The Lioness Course Book, distributing 300 free copies to community organisations supporting women and young people affected by domestic abuse.

Exhibitions include Hidden (Solo Exhibition, Leeds, 2022) and Fabrication (Trapezium Arts, Bradford, 2025). She was a finalist in the Association of Photographers Student Awards (2021).

Her evolving practice bridges observation and emotion — where lived experience, resilience and the elemental force of landscape meet in paint.