In 1887 Elsley shared a studio on Gloucester Road with portrait artist George Grenville Manton, who introduced Elsley to fellow artist Fred Morgan and soon afterwards Morgan and Elsley shared a studio in St Johns Wood.

In 1889 he joined the North London studio of established artist and leading exponent of juvenile scenes, Fred Morgan (1847–1927). Morgan believed in the old adage that every picture tells a story. Elsley turned his portraiture skills to story-telling and soon became as successful as his mentor.

Elsley won a silver medal at the Crystal Palace Exhibition in 1891. The success he enjoyed in the following years enabled him to get married. It was in November 1893 that he was to marry Emily (Emm) Fusedale, his second cousin. Emily and her sister had modelled for Elsley for over ten years. They moved to 28 Finchley Road, St John’s Wood and Elsley had his own studio.

An important point in Elsley’s already prolific career came in 1894 when the artist Charles Burton Barber died. But Elsley didn’t simply slip into Barber’s role as the most prominent painter of children and animals. As the ‘Illustrated London News’ reported on the 25th January 1896:

‘Mr Elsley appears more distinctly as a follower, though not an imitator, of Mr Burton Barber, differing from him by allowing his children more than one pet at a time and going beyond the limitations of a fox-terrier or a collie’.

The Elsley’s only child Majorie was born in 1903 and early paintings showed that she closely resembled one of Elsley’s early models, who was possibly one of Emm’s sisters or one of Elsley’s nieces. Majorie’s birth heralded a period of highly successful paintings from Elsley featuring his only child. However, this time of relatively high productivity was dramatically affected by the outbreak of World War 1. Elsley worked in a munitions factory and this had a detrimental effect on his already failing sight. However, despite his problems with his eyesight, he continued to paint up until 1931.

‘At Bay’ follows in the tradition of children playing on a gate established by William Collins, RA, and was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1899. There was a lucrative market for Christmas scenes as they were eagerly sough for reproduction as calendars, or by popular magazines such as ‘The Illustrated London News’ for use as large presentation prints, given away with the special Christmas number of the magazine. Fierce competition for circulation depended on the quality and popularity of the print and Elsley was the most popular reproduced artist of the period. ‘At Bay’ was itself reproduced as a colour chromo-lithograph calendar re-named as ‘Pay Toll’.

Elsley was a highly-acclaimed artist. His work depicts a romanticised view of everyday life, an extremely popular approach during the industrial Victorian era. It wasn’t just the affluent middle classes who adorned their walls with Elsley’s paintings - his work was reproduced as prints, postcards and calendars and as a result appeared in many homes all over the country.

Arthur John Elsley died at his home in Tunbridge Wells on the 19th February 1952 aged 92. After his cremation at Brighton Crematorium, his ashes were scattered in the Garden of Remembrance.