He did not become an artist until he was in his 30s. Following his army service in World War II , he attended Camberwell School of Art and the St Ives School of Art. In 1951 worked as an assistant to the sculptor Barbara Hepworth. His career included teaching at the Bath Academy of Art, serving as Gregory Fellow at Leeds University, and becoming the Artist in Residence and Professor of Painting at the Department of Fine Art of Reading University.