Jean Watson was born in England and came to Canada in 1968 in order to teach French, and also sometimes art. Canada has been her home ever since, though she has lived in several other countries- Nigeria, Iran and Cyprus.

She has been interested in art her whole life but it was not until she went back to university as an adult and took an art course, that it became a consuming passion and her whole life direction was changed. She went on to complete her BFA and her MFA in Visual Arts. Since then she has practised her art as well as teaching art wherever she has been.