One of a generation of students who, influenced by Samuel Palmer, revived the art of etching with a romantic vision of the English landscape. The Pembrokeshire coast became a lifelong source of inspiration and he developed a personal response bordering on the abstract. He contributed to the International Surrealist Exhibition in London, and became an Official War Artist. The Christian image of the Cross became a recurring theme and he was commissioned in 1952 to design the Christ in Glory in the Tetramorph for Coventry Cathedral. His portrait of Churchill, to mark the Prime Minister's eightieth birthday caused a sensation at its unveiling in 1954, and was subsequently destroyed by the sitter's wife.The self-portrait was painted specifically for the National Portrait Gallery's Sutherland exhibition in 1977.