In 1961, after winning the Helena Rubinstein Travelling Scholarship the previous year, Blackman and his family sailed to London. They were to stay in Europe until 1966, befriending the leading poets, writers, actors and artists of the time.

'Blackman is a painter of women but not of flesh; a kind of belated reply to Norman Lindsay's pseudo-classical eroticism, an artist seeking to penetrate a feminine world of private sensations, hopes and fears. ... By combining tonal illusionism with forceful rudimentary images and rich, resonate colour, Blackman has created a personal art form of great beauty and poignant expressive power.' (B. Smith, Australian Paintings, 1788-1960, Melbourne, 1965, p.308)