Before turning her creative energy to painting, Jillian was a kindergarten teacher for many years and has taught both in Australia and in a variety of international schools in Asia and Europe. She has also worked with hearing impaired children who communicate using Auslan (Australian Sign Language). She always found that using her artwork in her teaching helped her enrich the learning experience of children from diverse language backgrounds and those with hearing impairment. Jillian’s debut picture book A Farm by the Sea, is inspired by her own childhood growing up in Port Lincoln, where the farm was a place of work and the sea was a place of play. After living in a number of countries with her family, she has now returned to Australia and, once again, calls Port Lincoln home.