I’ve known Jean Ryan for several years now, going back to her inclusion in an anthology of LGBT writers that I edited and published in 2014. Her writing remains among the best I’ve ever had the pleasure of reading, and we’ve remained friends since then. She made the transition into retirement and has become an artist .. or, more accurately, always was one, and has found a new means of expressing it through painting. Her thoughts on retirement and how it provided her with these opportunities are captured beautifully in her blog post, On Being Retired, she kindly allowed me to reprint here at LGBTSr.

Jean and her wife Cindy have set up shop at Etsy as 4 Hands Art, and you can view her work there. I’ve just purchased two myself, and find Jean’s work detailed, delightful, and whimsical in some pictures (I purchased a reclining kitten, and sent my sister in California a mesmerizing portrait of a black lab that looks just like one of her beloved dogs).

One of the things I like most about Jean is her ability to inspire. I’m not a painter and never will be, but I know what it’s like to wonder, as I often do these days, what else might I want to do as someone who’s compelled to create? Another novel? Another mystery? Or not write fiction at all. But then what? Jean lets me know I don’t have to have an answer to pose the question, or to just relax and see what happens. – Mark McNease/Editor

About Jean Ryan

Jean Ryan, a native Vermonter, lives in Lillian, Alabama. Her stories and essays have appeared in a variety of journals and anthologies. She has also published a novel, LOST SISTER. Her short story collections, SURVIVAL SKILLS and LOVERS AND LONERS, are available online. STRANGE COMPANY, a collection of short nature essays, is available in paperback as well as digital and audio editions.View all blog posts by Jean Ryan