He served in the Royal Air Force as a radar mechanic from 1940 to 1945, and was a lecturer in art and music in Tring, Hertfordshire, from 1946 to 1950. One of his pictures was bought by the Duke of Edinburgh. He returned to Ulster in 1950. He exhibited in Belfast, Dublin and England, and he pioneered open-air exhibitions during the summer at Rostrevor from 1951 to 1954, and at the Shambles, Hillsborough, from 1955 to 1968. He was President of the Royal Ulster Academy, and examples of his work are in the Ulster Museum, the Ulster Folk and Transport Museum, Cultra, County Down, and the Waterford Municipal Art Gallery.