While attending the California College of Arts and Crafts, Jill started as a photorealist painter. The process was unfulfilling, which motivated her to develop her personal exploration into the beauty of the paint itself and the conceptual ideas prominent of the avant-garde era. "Process" became the fascination and motivation behind her work
from that point forward. Many artists during the 1950's and 1960's were influential and inspirational to her work, most importantly Jackson Pollack and Jasper Johns. Works include rubbings using graphite on a variety of papers, hand made acrylic paints mixed
into a rich impasto and applied thickly by brush on 300 lb Arches paper, and some experimental materials such as latex rubber. She also challenged her creativity through installations, earthworks, and performance art.

Experimentation was the basis of her early works, and has remained the foundation throughout her creative development.