Like many women artists of her generation, Isabel Alexander struggled for opportunity and recognition in a field that was overwhelmingly male; and like many more women across society as a whole she had to reconcile ambition with financial pressures and the demands of parenting, and single parenting at that. Yes her skills in drawing and painting, honed by her rigorous 1930 Slade training, melded with an unflagging work ethic, fierce independence and a dalight in experimentation to give her works immediacy and energy as well as flair and distinction.