About

It's taken me a while to realise that I'm a countryside girl, through and through. It's where I feel most at home. Surrounded by birds chirping, trees swaying, bees buzzing from flower to flower and glimpses of larger wild animals here and there.

Also, my family comes from the stunning Lake District and an area of Norway called Vestfold, both also bursting with that countryside energy.

I'm sure this has a lot to do with where I was born, the beautiful Isle of Man, where my earliest memories are of the remote sheep farm we lived on, those wild and rugged landscapes and the animals that were my friends, although apparently I was a bit too harsh with the little chicks.

Wild times on the farm on the Isle of Man. Me and my sis... I'm the little naughty looking one.

Here are me and my sister, with our adopted "little brother" Larry.

On the farm there was a lamb called Larry it's mother had died and seeing it in my mother's arms in the kitchen, being fed from a baby's bottle is one of my earliest memories.

Eventually Larry got strong enough to go back outside, with all the other baby animals that me and my sister were told were ours.

We didn't only live on the Isle of Man, as my parents moved us to a small village high up in the Pyrenees mountains, in a little country called Andorra, back when there were lots of winding roads, farm animals were everywhere and my classroom in the Spanish school consisted of 6 children. And so we lived between the Isle of Man and Andorra for a few years, taking it in my stride as little children do.

Me and my mum enjoying a big snowfall in the village we lived in in Andorra

Me and my Daddy ready for a day of skiing and fun!

My father loved to dine out, and in a country where mealtimes dragged on and on, I remember getting very bored. Luckily Andorra was a very safe country with little traffic back then, and so I was allowed to play outdoors. As well as interacting with real life creatures, I would create imaginary worlds of little characters in the natural stone walls and moss.

And when I wasn't outside exploring nature I remember drawing and painting, creating imaginary worlds on the paper. Here is one of those worlds from when I was 11 years old, which won a Xmas card competition in the Town Hall (Comu d'Ordino) where I lived, every household in the parish receiving one.

My winning Christmas Card design which was then sent to everybody in the Parish of Ordino, Andorra

Then when I was 14, the drawing I had entered for a nationwide competition won, and every child in Andorra received a school diary with my drawing on the cover. I received the news hundreds of kilometres away, during my first week at an all girls boarding school, far away from my friends, family and the country I called home. I cried, but was also happy to think that children back home owned something created by me.

Agenda Escolar Andorra Constitucio 1993 Jasmine Lilleby

My drawing celebrating the first year of the Constitution of Andorra, on the cover of the school diary handed out to all children in Andorra.

My "Super Star Granny-Ma" Grandma loved nature, and had amazing green fingers, that's what you call someone who is very good at growing plants and having a beautiful garden. She was the daughter of a market gardener, so she grew up with it. My mother also has green fingers, and I am waiting for the chance to show how green my fingers can get, as until now I've only been able to focus on potted plants. Although when I was very little I had a little square of garden outside my windowsill in Andorra, and I can still remember how much I loved planting flowers there.

Me and my Super Star Granny-Ma who used to let me do all sorts of silly things to her!

Whilst nannying for my nieces we spent a lot of time out in nature as well as being super creative.

When I was little, me, my sister and friends would put on variety shows, with dancing, acting and singing. And later on when I nannied for my nieces I tried to replicate this, adding puppet shows and our own made up stories. At this time I also wrote and illustrated a story just for them, which I still have, but not here, so I'll have to add photos of that at another date.

And so creativity has always been part of me: from drawing and painting; to making fashion accessories, crochet ski hats and designing T-shirts; to filming and editing videos; making practical ceramics; decorating; upcycling; making up songs... and through all of this a lot of storytelling.

At University I studied a BA in Spanish, covering all sorts of aspects of Spanish and Latin American Literature, Culture, History and Society, mainly through Literature, but also Films and Art. During this time I perfected my writing skills and enjoyed understanding better all the different genres.

And since 2017 my storytelling through my Art has focused on how it is so important that we be kind to nature and each other, for ourselves and for the future of beautiful planet Earth.

Eventually, after the shock of my father passing away, I finally decided to enroll in a full time art course. I wanted to go back in time to the way drawing and painting used to be taught, with pencils, charcoal, paper, paint, paintbrushes and canvas. I wanted to learn a painterly realism. At the time I didn't believe I was good at depicting people, I just wanted to learn the technique and be surrounded by other artists. But as it turned out I was told I was quite good at quickly catching people's likeness. This is something I still really enjoy and find fascinating, whether human, animal or object.

Portraits I painted of my nieces, a great source of inspiration for me over the years

Fast forward to now, and I am writing and illustrating children's books about a child called Melou, who metamorphoses into wild animals to navigate life, tapping in to the wild side that is whithin each and every one of us, and which it is important to preserve or reconnect with. And in this way continuing my mission of how we can help nature and wildlife, and in doing so getting outdoors and nurturing ourselves.

Sketchbook page from The Tale of Melou's First Week of Metamorphosis

Melou Crab sketch from Melou's Adventures

Some sketches and "working throughs" notes of my first self-published story "The Tale of Melou's (First) Week of Metamorphosis." Did you know that Beatrix Potter also self-published to start with?

And in case you didn't already know, I am greatly inspired by Beatrix Potter, not just because of her beautiful illustrations and tales that immerse you into the lives of animals, but more because of her immense and self-less contribution to the conservation of nature. Having worked at the World of Beatrix Potter in the Lake District as one of my first jobs might also have something to do with it.