Jean
Keaton was born in New Mexico and grew up
in Utah. She and her identical-twin sister, are numbers five and six in a
family of nine children. Jean and her husband, of twenty-three years, have
five children, three sons, and two daughters, with ages ranging from five
through twenty-one. She received a degree in elementary education and went
on to enjoy teaching in elementary schools for nine years, but left that profession
because of her desire to be home with
her young children.
Finding time to draw doesn't come easy. Jean is not only a busy wife and mother; she is very actively involved in her church, volunteers time in the community, actively participates at her children's schools, and (much to her surprise) has found herself in demand as a speaker, sharing experiences of how her artwork has touched lives. Her drawings of Christ as a loving and personable friend, have had a great impact, and many have sought her out for commissioned drawings. Most all of this artwork have been requests from those that have experienced the loss of a loved one. It has been a remarkable experience to see the effect that a visual of a loved one in the arms of their Savior can have on a broken heart. Jean has spent the last five years doing close to 400 commissioned drawings. The demand became so great that she just couldn't keep up with it and at this time has had to stop taking orders*. At one point she had over 70 pictures in her file waiting to be done. Even now she is trying to complete drawings for those that have waited over a year.
Many have wondered why her drawings have not been more ethnically diverse. Jean is trying very hard to make time to draw. She is very much aware that there is a need to widen the variety of drawings. She has a great desire to be able to add prints to the collections that include all nationalities. Now that she is close to completing the drawings she has been committed to do, she can start to see her way clear to work on many ideas she had filed away for a later time. When Jean first drew the prints that you now see in the 'As I Have Loved You' series, she was drawing her children with Jesus - not for marketing purposes - just for her and her family. Her children are pictured in, 'Playful Boys', 'Laughing Baby', 'Snuggling Infant', 'Teach me to Walk', and 'Heaven's Gift'. She decided to try the marketing effort after going to a copy store to make copies of her drawings. Not only those that worked in that store, but the patrons, ranted and raved over the drawings - they all wanted copies. They told Jean that they were positive that many would love and appreciate the drawings, and convinced her that she should not keep this artwork to herself.
And they were right!
