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Rowena Sommerville introduces herself:

I was a lucky baby-boomer, able to go to art school to study Graphics and Illustration despite my parents’ (perfectly justified) anxieties, and despite knowing nothing, either on arrival or on graduation, of how one actually earned a living from these skills. I then worked in a variety of youth justice, psychiatric and social care settings while picking up bits of illustration work (including for Spare Rib!), and gradually learned how to put together a creative life. When I had children I also began to write ‘for them’ and eventually had my first children’s book published, which I had written and illustrated.

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Like almost all practising artists nowadays, I have had to earn a living through a ‘portfolio career’, parlaying varied skills into varied income streams. My craft skills have generally been those considered as traditionally female – particularly knitting and sewing – and…