On his first European tour in 1978, Parkison began to paint on the Greek Isles. That personal diary of the islands’ simple architecture evolved into something much grander when he returned to America and began to paint full-time. By 1979 he began showing in galleries and moved to Los Angeles, where a much broader world of Art opened up to him. His works gained immediate acceptance among a stellar group of collectors and, as the 1980’s dawned, he was well represented in private and corporate collections.

In 1985 he returned to Europe to travel and paint for over six months, and the contacts he made led to his first European exhibit in The Netherlands in 1987. Sold-out exhibits followed on both sides of the Atlantic, his work making it into many more noted collections and, as the 1990’s began, he moved to Europe, living in Amsterdam for a decade. The Dutch capital’s unique historic stature as Art capital has long been an inspiration to Robert, yet his work remains uniquely American in its optimistic spirit.

Where acknowledged old world Masters added light to their paintings, Parkison adds colors building upon paper, never being able to go back to a lighter surface. The requirements of transparency mean he must make no mistakes. His untouched paper provides his whites. With the white of the paper, Parkison records details of light: the sunlight hitting a graffiti-covered wall, the shadows created by an intricate wrought iron gate. The connecting thread which runs through all of Parkison’s work is capturing an exact moment in time.