Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Jill Thomen. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Jill, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

I always knew that I wanted to do something with my creative abilities and always have found ways to be creative throughout my life. When I was young I was drawn to interior design. I always loved that I could create a mood by just changing a paint color or re arranging furniture in a room. I struggeled in my schooling years because I’m dyslexic and had always felt I wasn’t smart enough or good enough just because I learned differently. Art was my safe space in High School. Being dyslexic forced me to be creative in learning as well. I went to the Art Institute of Atlanta, when I graduated high school. I was pursuing an associates degree in Interior Design, but ran into challanges with the curriculum when I had my first French Furinture Class. Different languages is something I probably won’t be able to ever do. Old insecurities got to me leading me to drop out of that school. So I ended up in the insurance industry.

Even without a college degree I did pretty well, My last employer was a major insurance company where I was promoted up to manager from an entry level position. I was at that company for 17 years, before being laid off. It was a stressful environment and to help with that stress I turned to creating digital art on my iPad in the evenings. After the lay off I decided to really focus on something I loved, which was creating art. I learned the Program Procreate while I was still working. I took several skill share classes and learned all the tools to create art work in procreate. I also learned about Surface Pattern Design and was instantly drawn to that. It really brings in my love of art and interior design together in creating fabric design. I soon felt that I needed to learn how to create my patterns in Vectors instead of just Raster files. Vectors are much easier for printed materials Raster images, like what Procreate creates, degrade when you move the elements around and resize them like you need to do with creating repeating patterns. So I signed up for some on line courses and learned Adobe Illustrator and Affinity Designer which are both Vector programs.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Art and Creativity have always been a part of my life, as I struggled in school I always had to creatively learn how to work around my spelling error and mistakes. When creating posters for school projects learned how to use pictures instead of words to get my points across. I when I couldn’t come up with a correct spelling I learned how replace it with other words I could spell. The same goes with creating art sometimes mistakes make your work better. I consider Jilly Bird Creations my encore career. I’m very fortunate to have such a loving spouse who really takes pleasure in seeing me happy in making my art work. I’m not yet bringing in real income from it, but that’s ok I know if I keep at it the income will come.

I’m still trying to define my style and figure out what industries I would like to pitch too. There are so many options with Surface Design, like home decor, (wall paper, fabric) children’s Clothing and home decor and fashion. Surfaces like I pad covers and phone cases. I view myself in as in the experimentation phase of my surface design career. I have made several collections of fabrics designs and they are for sale on Spoonflower which is print on demand site for fabric and wall paper. (lhttps://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/jillybirdcreations)

Once I feel confident enough in my work, I want to start to pitch my designs to companies for licensing. I’ve been at if for a little over year now and I am seeing some sales on Spoonflower which is always validating.

I am inspired by childhood memories, and all things found in nature. I created the wall paper in my office based off my childhood and my parents. I have lost both my parents to cancer. It’s been very healing to me. The wall paper I created has hummingbirds and climbing flower called Clematis. My mother loved hummingbirds and every year we would enjoy watching the feeder in the summer. My mother had a hummingbird collection.

My Dad use to plant a Clematis for me every summer because I loved watching the flower clim and grow and bloom. The name Jillybird came from my Dad as this was his nickname for me as a child. I felt that was an appropriate name for my business because I feel closest to my true purpose for being here on earth when I am creating art. It allows me to look at the world with my childhood wonder and curiosity.

One of my very first collections is called “Mohican” it’s based on my memories as child camping in Mochican state park in Ohio. It depicts me and my two brothers canoeing, and tubing on the Mohican River, and also scenes from the campground, and surrounding areas.

I also get inspired from places I love to Vacation. I have a few designs based on time spent in Anguilla, a beautiful small Caribbean island that me and my husband have fallen in love with.

I am really trying to stretch my comfort zone and I am working on kids collection now, based on Topsail Island here in North Carolina where my Husband and I go to vacation just about every year. Topsail is great subject because its full of history and its where the famous pirate “Blackbeard” was know to hide out and stalk ships by hiding in the channel behind the island, and attacking merchant ships by surprise. Some lore says that is how the island got its name, as a warning to the ships to be on the lookout for the “Topsail” of pirates hiding behind the sand dunes. This collection I plan to feature Mermaid and Pirates and of course pirate ships along with all things beachy.

In one of my classes I learned how to create collections and I love telling those stories through my designs. A collection consist of 1 our 2 Hero patterns, and several other coordinating patterns, and finally several blender patterns that all coordinate with each other in theme and color way. A lot of thought and experimentation goes into collections.

What’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative in your experience?

The most gratifying aspect of embracing the role of an artist or creative individual lies in the opportunity to convey my innermost thoughts and sentiments through visual means. The act of invoking emotions and sensations solely through the arrangement of patterns is a source of immense joy for me. It has the power to elicit feelings of exuberance, comfort, and happiness, while also delving into the realms of contemplation and introspection.

Much like the way rearranging furniture can transform a space and transport you to a different room, I believe that art has a similar capacity. Just as literature allows one to traverse the globe through the pages of a book, artwork possesses the ability to transport viewers to various emotional landscapes simply by gazing upon it.

What’s a lesson you had to unlearn and what’s the backstory?

The main lesson I have to constantly unlearn is that, I am good enough. I struggled with self esteem over my entire life. I still struggle with it. I have learned that a lot times I just have to keep at it. I’m always surprised and filled with joy when someone loves one of my patterns. I never think I’m good enough but I have learned and been rewarded by putting my self out there even, if I have those thoughts. I have learned to risk the feeling of not being good enough and most of the time I am surprised and validated to find that I am good enough.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: jilly_bird_creations@instagram
• Facebook: Jilly Bird Creations
• Other: https://www.spoonflower.com/profiles/jillybirdcreations

Image Credits
All photos were taken by me.