On completion of a Bachelor of Visual Arts in 1998, Southon had several solo shows and in 2005 a Contemporary Pacific Art Scholarship funded a trip to Florence to study at the Angel Academy of Art. In 2007 he was awarded a further scholarship from the classical art school Studio Escalier in the Loire Valley. He then furthered his studies in San Francisco with Ted Seth Jacobs, a senior lecturer at Studio Escalier and a pioneer of Restructured Realism. Southon regards these periods of study in Italy, France and America as highly influential on his current practice.