However, her desire to pursue art training in Melbourne was thwarted by the ill health of her mother and the latter's reluctance to let her daughter follow such a career.

In cosmopolitan London, she studied at the Westminster School of Art and mixed with a company of writers, artists, poets and political activists.

Caught up in the bohemian café society of Paris, Ford started a literary magazine and was a leading figure among the expatriate writers.

In 1932, she went to the United States at the invitation of the poet Ramon Guthrie, who helped her in finding commissions including, among others, with Sinclair Lewis.

[7] Theaden Brocklebank, a producer with the Pacific service of the BBC and wife of Keith Hancock, had arranged for Stella Bowen to record regular talks for Australian audiences about her wartime experiences.

These talks provided Bowen with additional income during a difficult time and they resulted in the offer of the position of war artist.

[8] Bowen's brief as a war artist was to depict the activities of the Royal Australian Air Force (RAAF) stationed in England.