A LIFETIME DEDICATED TO ART
About Jill Roberts | Fine Artist & Pet Portrait Painter
My passion is the human response.
I have been creating art for more than 40 years, but becoming an artist wasn't something that happened at a particular moment. It was something that developed through a lifetime of learning how to see.
Long before I understood composition, color theory, perspective or lighting, I was paying attention to the things around me: faces, expressions, buildings, landscapes, animals, shadows and the way light could completely change how something felt.
From Art School to a Lifetime in Art and Painting
I attended Columbus College of Art & Design, where I studied drawing, perspective, color theory, painting, design and art history and majored in Advertising Design.
Early work in custom airbrushing and visual layout taught me how people see; fine art taught me how people feel. That deep understanding of composition and lighting is what brings each canvas to life today.
- Graphic design taught me how people see. Painting taught me how people feel.
- Those two disciplines have remained intertwined throughout my career.
Several Decades of Creating Art
Over the decades, my fine art work has taken many forms. I've created commissioned paintings and pet portraits, painted murals, painted art to be printed on wine labels and created artwork for private homes, hospitals, veterinary clinics, restaurants, businesses and private collections.
Today, I primarily paint in professional-quality acrylics, because it gives me tremendous control over color, layering, detail and texture. I can build a painting gradually, creating subtle transitions and fine detail while still allowing individual brushwork to remain visible.
I Paint the Feeling, Not Just the Photograph
Many of my custom commissioned paintings begin with photographs, but a photograph is a reference, not the finished vision. I may change the lighting, simplify a background, adjust colors, remove distractions or combine information from several photographs.
- The goal is to understand what matters about the subject and make that the focus of the painting.
- Composition guides the eye
- Lighting creates emotion
- Color influences mood
- Texture rewards curiosity
- Brushwork brings life
- Those decisions are what transform a reference photograph into original artwork.
Pet Portraits That Capture More Than a Likeness
When I paint a pet, the eyes are usually where I begin to understand the painting.
Anyone who has deeply loved an animal knows that you don't just recognize their face. You recognize an expression, a particular look, an attitude and all of the little characteristics that make that animal unmistakably yours. That's what I'm looking for when I paint.
A successful pet portrait should certainly look like your pet, but more importantly, it should feel like your pet.
- Some portraits are traditional. Others are playful and imaginative, incorporating clothing, costumes, character, heritage or a setting that reflects the animal's personality.
- Either way, my goal is the same: to create an original painting that captures the relationship you have with the animal you love.
See examples and how to order a pet portrait painting
Commissioned Paintings With a Personal Story
Some paintings begin with a place rather than a face.
A childhood home. A favorite vacation. A vineyard. A street someone remembers. A family property. A place connected to an important moment.
- I can work from several photographs and references to create a scene that may never have existed exactly as it appears on the canvas.
- Buildings can be repositioned. People can be added. Weather and lighting can change. Details can be emphasized or removed.
- That's one of the wonderful things about commissioning a painting instead of simply enlarging a photograph.
We can create the memory of a place, not just a record of it.
See some of my commissioned paintings
Custom Murals: Art on an Architectural Scale
Murals require a different way of thinking.
Instead of designing artwork within the boundaries of a canvas, I have to consider the entire environment: architecture, viewing distance, furniture, lighting, wall dimensions, surrounding colors and how people physically move through the space.
My mural experience has included private residences, businesses, hospitals, veterinary environments, restaurants, children's spaces and other unique locations.
Whether I'm creating a residential mural, a business mural or an imaginative nursery and children's mural, I approach it as original artwork designed specifically for that environment.
Experience Matters
After more than four decades of creating art, technique becomes only part of the equation.
- Experience teaches you how to solve problems.
- It teaches you when a painting needs more detail and when it needs less. It teaches you how colors will interact, how perspective will behave on a large wall and how an image that looks wonderful on a computer screen may need to change when translated into paint.
- It also teaches you to listen.
Commissioned artwork is personal. My job isn't simply to show a client what I can paint. My job is to understand what matters to them and use my experience to translate that into artwork.
Creating Art Throughout Southern California — and Beyond
I'm based in Southern California and work with clients throughout the region for murals and other projects requiring onsite work.
Original paintings and pet portraits can be commissioned by clients well beyond Southern California because much of the process can be completed through photographs and direct communication. I ship painting to anywhere in the United States.
Jill Roberts painting a stylized portrait in her home studio in Anza, CA.