Dr. Carl Rothschild has always had artistic inclinations but he could never choose one creative medium over the others. In the end, like a Renaissance man, he chose them all. He plays violin and viola. He\u2019s made sculptures and wood carvings. He studied theatre. He has been writing poetry since high school, and painting and drawing even longer. He\u2019s an artist through and through, unable to exist without making art in one form or another, even though his chosen profession is child psychiatry.<\/p>\n
\u201cI always drew pictures,\u201d he said about his early years. \u201cWhen I told my mom I wanted to be an artist, I was six at the time, she said: \u2018Doctors paint.\u2019 When I mentioned that I liked playing music, she replied: \u2018There\u2019re doctors\u2019 orchestras.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n
She wanted him to be a doctor, and he followed her advice. He doesn\u2019t regret his choice. \u201cAt least I\u2019m not starving,\u201d he said with a smile. But he continued his involvement with the arts as a hobby, albeit a serious one. His first solo show of paintings, Stained Glass in Watercolor, opened on March 20 at the Sidney and Gertrude Zack Gallery.<\/p>\n
Every painting in the show resembles a stained-glass panel; every shape is delineated by a dark outline. Inside the outlines, color rules. Yellow torches of the autumn trees stand along a street like soldiers on parade. Red tulips glow like candles above the grey flagstones of a backyard. Bluish sky melts into the pearly sea at the horizon, while the dramatic black borders cut across nature\u2019s immensity, bringing it closer to humans and to the boulders on the beach.<\/p>\n
Stained-glass technique is Rothschild\u2019s latest creative mode. He is exploring its possibilities and shares his discoveries with viewers. \u201cWhen our eye looks at two objects side by side,\u201d he explained, \u201cit sees a black separation line between them. When I insert the black lines myself, I can contain the shapes. I have control over them, and each object is discrete. I place them wherever I want in the picture.\u201d<\/p>\n
His images are never photographic. Whether the inspiration for a painting comes from a photo or a scene he has witnessed, or from his own poems, the end result is invariably his impressions of the objects that attracted his interest. \u201cI saw those red trees and I wanted to paint them. I placed them in the painting, but they couldn\u2019t be alone, they needed a street, a house, so I painted them, too.\u201d<\/p>\n
Besides shapes and lines, the stained-glass technique also fascinates Rothschild because of the texture and color variations in every glass fragment, he said. He tries to replicate the effect in his paintings, so his colors are muted, fluctuating inside the shapes he has imposed. \u201cI like rounded lines; they\u2019re easier on the eye,\u201d he admitted. \u201cIt\u2019s like the lines are dancing.\u201d<\/p>\n
His creative process implies a deep knowledge of the subject, but he is mostly self-taught. \u201cI only started taking regular art lessons three years ago,\u201d he said. \u201cI was unsure whether I should continue painting. I visited a friend and talked to him about it. He had some watercolors by Susan Pearson on his walls. I liked them, and he said he knows the artist, why don\u2019t I talk to her. So I did. I took my sketchbooks to this [artist] and I said I wanted to know where I was in my art. Am I an artist? Should I continue? She said: \u2018Yes, of course, you\u2019re an artist.\u2019 Since then, I\u2019ve been taking lessons with her every week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Those lessons contributed to another of his recent creative endeavors: in 2013, he published a book of drawings and poems, Almost Missed<\/i>, on sale alongside his paintings at the gallery. \u201cOnly one painting in the book is done in the stained-glass technique, the first one I ever tried,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was for my poem \u2018In Memory of My Father\u2019s Death.\u2019 I liked it and started painting other pictures the same way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Most other illustrations in the book originated from one or another of Pearson\u2019s lessons. They are either classic watercolor landscapes, airy and light, almost transparent, still-life pictures and abstracts based on the ideas and images of still life.<\/p>\n
The connections between the poetry and pictures are intimate and allusive, and are woven together throughout the book. \u201cArt is a synthetic process,\u201d he said. \u201cIt comes out in whatever you do: poetry, visual art, furniture making. I always made art. Once, my family moved into a new home, and the previous owners left a stack of wooden kitchen cabinet doors in the basement. I started carving those doors. I don\u2019t know what happened to them when we moved again. I also tried sculpture. When I was at university, my friend needed help in making dental samples. I helped him, and then used the same material for small sculptures. I also made a chess set for a friend.\u201d<\/p>\n
The modest Rothschild said he regards his constant creative output as relatively insignificant, but his sensitivity and artistry is unmistakable. Despite a medical degree and a psychiatric practice, in his heart, Rothschild is definitely an artist.<\/p>\n
Stained Glass in Watercolor is on exhibit at Zack Gallery until April 27.<\/p>\n