 Unable to resume farmwork, in 1921–23 Battarbee studied commercial art in Melbourne, but developed a preference for the outdoor life of a landscape painter.In 1928, he and fellow commercial artist John Gardner bought a T-model Ford which had been converted to a caravan and set out on a fifteen-month trip, painting in Victoria, New South Wales and Queensland.Two years later they travelled to western New South Wales and the Flinders Ranges in South Australia.