Dad's Russian Market



detail of Russian Market,
 Donald Lee Roberts c. 1980

 

detail of Russian Market,
Donald Lee Roberts c. 1980

Here is one of my Dad's paintings.  It is oil on watercolor canvas paper.  Usually this was how my Dad would paint a sketch in miniature before taking up some larger oil piece on canvas or wood.  In this instance I don't think his plan was to expand on the work.  Over the past decade all of his paintings have looked like this one and been done on similar paper though mostly with a dry brushed watercolor over pen or pencil.  I see much of my dad's work as illustration and that feel has become more pronounced over the years.  Regrettably his choice of medium and even subject has been much more guided by his increased physical limitations and loss of muscle strength and control.  The scene is a Market in the former Soviet Union where he spent significant time over two years while working for RCA.  As difficult as these assignments where taking him away from home for up to 4 months at a time, I think they made possible a real cross cultural encounter which he found among the most meaning full of his life.  I am unsure just how many paintings and drawings he did of people and sites from his time in Russia but I can easily remember 10 which hung in our home and know he made gifts of others to various friends and family.

Russian Market, Donald Lee Roberts c. 1980