ART OF MEDICINE
"Island Moorage"
Watercolor on paper, 22 inches by 15 inches
By Kathryn Marin Collins, M.D.
Kathy Collins, a 1973 graduate of DMS, painted and sketched all through college and medical school. But her interest in art fell by the wayside during residency and as she began to practice rehabilitation medicine in Seattle, got married, and raised three children. Then 15 years ago, needing to do drawings of nerves for a medical article, she took a scientific illustration class—and her interest in art was reignited. Now she rises at 5:30 and paints all morning, then sees patients with nerve injuries or entrapments, such as carpal tunnel syndrome, in the afternoon. She feels her art helps her to be "more intuitive with patients," while medicine keeps her artistic side "grounded and organized." She used to worry that other artists would see her as a "Sunday painter," but the concern faded as her work began to be widely exhibited. When she mentioned the former worry to a medical colleague, he joked, "We thought you were a 'Sunday doctor!'" The painting above depicts a scene off the San Juan Islands in Seattle's Puget Sound. "Boats are a constant source of interesting shapes, colors, and reflections," says Collins, who now works exclusively in watercolor.
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