Jean’s earliest watercolors were life-like renditions of flora and fauna. She always found painting birds a particularly special preoccupation, and these were the subjects of her earliest work.
While living in Seattle, many of Jean’s commissions were botanicals and floral themes. The coastal Pacific Northwest is an excellent place to garden, and many gardeners live there. Consequently, many early commissions came from gardeners.
These commissions offered an excellent opportunity to explore the plant world of the region through her art. Jean also learned and expanded her knowledge about creating color, which helped her to capture the region’s wildflowers and garden favorites. This work provided the foundation for the flower spirit paintings that were to come later.
The Plant Mandala was created as one of the illustrations for the book, Tibetan Healing: The Modern Legacy of Medicine Buddha, by Peter Fenton. As with all mandalas, it is an aid to concentration and meditation which often consists of lines and circles. They are usually created around a particular theme.