[1] To escape the rigorous discipline of Bell and the more conservative teachings of the Gallery school, Armstrong and fellow students [Fred Williams] and Harry Rosengrave purchased a block of land at Lilydale.
In 1951, Armstrong controversially shared the Commonwealth Jubilee Travelling Scholarship with Michelle Wunderlich to the Slade School in London.
In 1960 Armstrong was appointed Drawing Master at the National Gallery School, teaching alongside John Brack and Marc Clarke.
In 1966 Armstrong resigned from the National Gallery School commencing a full-time painting career which he continued for the rest of his life, supplemented with intermittent teaching at the C.A.E and private classes at his home studio in Blackburn.
In 1974 a grant awarded by the Visual Arts Board, Australia Council, led to a series of large portraits of family and friends.
A trip to England and France on an Australia Council grant in 1988 led to three months study and work in Paris, based at the Cite International des Arts.
The next ten years were spent painting the local land and seascapes, with trips further afield to Mark Pearce's Bungala, South Australia studio.