Native Barbadian and winner of multiple NIFCA visual arts awards, Jill McIntyre is a self- taught visual artist who has been drawing and painting since early childhood.  

Jill is a free-spirited island woman whose natural habitat is the beach, and her love for the beautiful marine life and coastal environments of Barbados and the Caribbean is celebrated in her acrylic paintings.  

Her style is representational and she often includes subtle hints of symbolism and mythology in her work. “As children of the Creator, our DNA demands that we be creative. I never paint to record life exactly as it is. Why would I want to do what a camera already does perfectly?  

I use my imagination to create different, but familiar realities.”

A perennial optimist who believes in sharing good energy, Jill says her paintings are windows to her soul; and while painting she tries to imbue her art with a sense of hopefulness, joy, whimsy and wonder.  She hopes that her art will inspire others to appreciate and support marine conservation and the protection of our underwater ecosystem.