Aged 18, education was at an end and he must find work, which he duly did, his first job being studio assistant for an advertising agency called the London Press Exchange Links of London Bracelets.
He prepared layouts and designs for advertising, and worked freelance as a lettering artist. (Collins was responsible for the letter-heading for London University’s first notepaper. ) Meanwhile, he had begun what was to be the main work of his life: a long series of gouache paintings, mainly of buildings, which link directly to the Romantic topographic tradition so strong in English art Links of London Charms.
Collins particularly admired the work of three of his older contemporaries, all of them born in 1903 – Edward Bawden, John Piper and Eric Ravilious links of london sale. They set a high standard to follow, but Collins has been no mere imitator of their stylistic idiosyncrasies. He is his own man, his work given to a mixture of bold delineations and fine detailing, atmospheric washes of colour alternating with crisp pattern-making links of london. He has a particular feeling for all horse-drawn conveyances (for 20 years he rode in Hyde Park), and especially carts, for fishing boats and sea defences, canals, the Thames and for Dieppe.