In 1820, Collins was elected a Royal Academician (RA), presenting as his diploma picture "The Young Anglers". In 1822 he married Harriet Geddes, sister of the portrait painter Margaret Sarah Carpenter. He continued to exhibit with popularity and travel in England and Scotland. In 1826 he painted "The Fisherman's Departure", (engraved by Phelps), and in 1828 made a tour of the Netherlands and Belgium, living for short time in Boulogne in 1836. "Rustic Hospitality" was painted in 1834 and in 1836 "Sunday Morning" and "As Happy as a King", the subject of the latter being suggested to Collins by the story of a country boy whose ideal of regal happiness was swinging on a gate all day and eating fat bacon.