Postcards from Italy is a departure from Jean's usual subject matter: the landscape of western Canada, with a primary focus on the mountains of the Kananaskis and Banff Parks. Her style remains finely detailed and representational. The acrylic paintings are studio work, taking several weeks to complete, and are based on her photographs and observations..

Jean grew up in the Peace River country of northern Alberta and graduated from the University of Alberta in 1967. She and her husband lived briefly in Ottawa and Fredericton but have made their home in Calgary since 1970. They have two grown children.

Jean's award-winning work has has been shown in numerous solo exhibitions in Alberta, including her New Works feature at Masters Gallery in 2011, High Definition at Masters Gallery in 2009 and Fall Fling at Masters Gallery in 2005. As a member of the Pastel Society of Canada (Premier Pastellist designation) and the Alberta Society of Artists (Life Member), she has participated in juried group exhibitions throughout Canada and in New York and Japan.

Her work is found in numerous private and corporate collections, including Sunshine Village, the Hyatt Regency and the Cross Cancer Institute, and in the permanent collections of the Whyte Museum of the Rockies and the Alberta Foundation for the Arts. Images have been published in several books, including Mount Assiniboine: Images in Art, Jane Lytton Gooch, Rocky Mountain Press (2007); Alberta Society of Artists: the First Seventy Years, Kathy Zimon, University of Calgary Press (2000) and Best of Canadian Pastels, Pastel Society of Canada, Art Instruction Associates (1999).