ART OF MEDICINE
"Heading Back for a Cold One"
Watercolor on paper, 19 inches by 23 inches
By Russell Hardy, M.D., '63
A retired surgeon, Hardy took up painting five years ago. He'd done some cartooning in high school but says "it was only when retirement loomed" that he heeded his artistic leanings. "I feel strongly that physicians should anticipate retirement and get out while they still have their medical skills," he explains. "Unfortunately, I've seen some individuals hang on . . . longer than was good for them or their patients. The key to making a successful transition is developing some other skill." So Hardy took some lessons and began painting; his work has been in juried shows and won a prize last year. He focuses on sporting scenes—fishing, hunting, golfing. Fly-fishing has been a favorite theme for American painters since Winslow Homer, Hardy notes. But, he adds, most fishing paintings are basically landscapes, with the fisherman just part of the scene, while he concentrates on the fisherman and minimizes or even eliminates the landscape.
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