Whether it be in the passenger seat during a trek across Australia, or perched in the sand under the back of the car, Jean could be found painting.

"She used to always be painting, even while I was driving," husband Gary Spokes recalled. "Anytime we were out west, she'd be doing a quick watercolour of the mountains as we drove past."

Jean and Gary spent a lot of time travelling, where he'd go fishing and Jean would go off painting. Plein Air, they call it, when an artist paints in the natural environment, and it was something Jean loved to do.

"I'd park the car by the river and she would wonder off into the bush and paint until it got dark," Gary smiled.

They marriage began in 1967 but their courtship started much earlier.

"I chatted her up in high school when she was 16," he said.

"We were fortunate. We did everything we wanted to."

The couple moved to Gloucester in 1988 and Jean became heavily involved in the arts in the community, something she was very passionate about.

Jean wasn't just an artist, she was a teacher and a mentor, believing knowledge was for everyone.

"When she taught, she shared all her secrets," Gary said. "She didn't hold anything back."

Jean passed away in October 2018, leaving a huge hole in the Gloucester arts community, along with an extensive collection of her works.

For the past 12 years, Jean held a solo exhibition in the Gloucester Gallery biennially, with her last show held in 2017.

To honour her memory, Gary has decided to hold a final public exhibition in Jean's usual time slot.

"Gone Painting" a retrospective exhibition of Jean Spokes artworks runs from Wednesday March 27 until April 22 at the Gloucester Gallery with the official opening to be held on Friday March 29 from 6pm.

Jean Spokes was the youngest in the Sealy family of artists where art has always been a way of life.

Since 1977, Jean studied under many Australian and overseas tutors in varying mediums.

She then developed her own unique style and worked firstly in porcelain, glass, silk, and then branched out into watercolour, pastel, oil, acrylic and drawing.

Each of these mediums brings a different property and influence to her paintings and porcelain.

She received many awards and prizes for both her paintings and porcelain over the years.

Jean believed knowledge was to be shared so she taught both in Australia and overseas, in places like Thailand, France, Switzerland, Scotland, New Zealand and Lord Howe Island.

Exhibiting since 1987 in Sydney, and country NSW, in joint and solo exhibitions, her work was purchased for private and corporate collections in Australia and internationally.