Jean Ottosen's preferred theme is people interacting with the environment, and the results of people interacting with the environment.

Jean is a colourist working primarily in fibre. Bright, clear, vibrant colours are a hallmark of her work. Using those colours in a painterly fashion she creates movement in her pieces. She often hand dyes her distinctive colour palette. The yarns used in her pieces are often hand spun. Jean uses a variety of textures from new and up-cycled materials to create a sense of depth to her work.

A multi-disciplinary artist, Jean has a compulsion to create in fibre. She loves the feel of fibre passing through her fingers. She loves to use traditional rug hooking as a base in creating her works because of its tactile nature. 

Jean was introduced to the medium of rug hooking through Lucille Roxburgh of Calgary, Alberta in 1985. Her methods and techniques were learned through online classes with Deanne Fitzpatrick, Susan Feller and many other excellent teachers.

Jean currently aligns herself more with contemporary rug hooking as she creates mixed media fibre art work. ​