Jean moved to Scarborough in 1972 where she taught for a while at Scarborough College. She left teaching to run a small hotel and raise her two daughters (Madeline and Virginia) until her move to Glossop in 1992.

During her hotlier years she spent a lot of time on the sea front in scarborough photographing people for inspiration for her next piece of work. Jean often visits Scarborough and her camera is always close by.

'Working as closely from photographs as she does is a dangerous thing to do, but the intensity of her conviction, the strength of her drawing and that extra bit of knowing artifice allows her to walk safely across the knife edge'

Bob Bird - Art Critic