Jean started art classes at age five when her mother sent her to Saturday lessons at the Nelson Atkins Museum in Kansas City, Mo. Summer classes continued until college where she majored in Fine arts at the University of Colorado. It was during this time that she began painting in an abstract, nonobjective style. Jean continued sporadic lessons through the early years of marriage and raising four children. In 1980 Jean and her husband, Gil moved to Steamboat Springs, Colorado and she decided to make a full time commitment to her love of art. Signing up for a local plein air workshop taught by Mel Fillerup of Wyoming she discovered the joys of painting on location. "We painted every day even in a spring snow storm and I knew I had found my direction." Since that time Jean has continued her art education with classes at the Scottsdale Artists School, workshops with many instructors including private lessons with Mark Daily in Denver. Her style of painting has evolved from abstract to a more traditional form of impressionism working mainly in oil. Landscapes seem to dominate her work but she enjoys painting animals, still lifes and portraits. Jean has painted and traveled all over the world including Indonesia, Europe, Mexico and Canada. She teaches workshops every year with several different organizations.
The most prestigious oil painting organizations in America have voted her a signature membership including the Plein Air Painters of America, Oil Painters of America, Rocky Mountain Plein Air Painters Society and an honorary membership in the Tucson Plein Air Painters Society. Her paintings can be found in shows from New York to California including the Arts For The Parks Top 100, T he Salmagundi Club in New York City, Laguna Art Museum, Clymer Museum in Washington, Desert Caballeros Museum in Arizona and the Haggin Museum in Stockton, California. Today Jean and her husband travel between Tucson, Arizona and Steamboat Springs, Colorado maintaining two studios.
