The artist writes "When I was about eighteen I went to Paris with a group of art students to go to the museum and paint with our painting master Peter Potworowoski by the Seine. In the Orangerie I saw works by Edouard Vuillard for the first time and I remember how I connected with them and how I loved them; I kept being drawn back to them - he was the only artist there that really meant something to me then."

Vuilllard still inspires Jean as well as Degas, the Camden Town Group and many other artists. Having lived in America for twenty five years she is very aware of the Englishness in her paintings then and now.