Between 1948 and 1960 Jones was commissioned to produce murals by P&O for four cruise liners: S.S. Orcades, S.S. Oronsay, S.S. Orsova and S.S. Oriana. This witty trompe l'oil, for the Tavern Bar of the S.S. Orsova, dates to the period of her two most celebrated books, The Unsophisticated Arts (1951) and Follies and Grottoes (1953). Graduating from the Royal College of Art, Barbara Jones belongs to that distinctive group of artists and illustrators of whom Bawden, Ravilious, Piper and Ardizzone are the best known.