[3] He studied at the University of Ontario College of Art under Carl Schaeffer, George Pepper, John Alfsen, William Ogilvie[2] and Jock MacDonald[4] graduating with a first class honours in drawing and painting in 1949.
In the early 1950s Hickling spent some time travelling and studying in France and Spain which influenced his colour palette and loosened his brushstrokes as he developed a figurative abstract style.
[5] Hickling was an art master who taught at numerous schools throughout the region, including St. Catharine's, Brantford, Burlington, Guelph, and Hamilton.
[5] Hickling exhibited widely across the region and the country, preferring to show in non-commercial and public gallery spaces.
In the 1970s and 1980s he became an en plein air painter concentrating on landscapes, where in he meticulously noted the locations, dates and other details on the back of his canvases.
[14] Hickling was a founder member of Hamilton Artists Inc. in 1975, established as an exhibiting venue and to promote art production in the area.
[15] The Burlington Cultural Centre hosted a mid-career retrospective entitled Walter Hickling: 25 years in the autumn of 1980.
Hickling acts as both poet and narrator on the recordings which came from live concerts and were released in 1998 under the title Ghosts Of Summer's Passing.