Sports Medicine To Paintbrush. The Art of Retirement. Dr. Bob Parks

Opportunities abound! Fill your life with action and endeavor! Dr. Bob Parks transitioned from his precision and accuracy of sports medicine to creative art using a paintbrush. This talented and professional artist started with zero experience and is now legendary! How did he do it? For Bob it’s the art of retirement. 

Transcript
Catherine:

Well, hello, this is Catherine your host of the podcast,

Catherine:

your positive imprint, the variety show, featuring people all over the

Catherine:

world whose positive actions are inspiring positive achievements.

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Exceptional people rise to the challenge.

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Your positive imprint.com.

Catherine:

Your positive imprint.

Catherine:

What's your P.I.?

Catherine:

I sat outside in the mountains with the birds and also with

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legendary podiatrist, Dr.

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Bob Parks.

Catherine:

Bob was born and raised in Tacoma, Washington during a time that

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he says was a bit simpler then.

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In high school, he ran track and cross country and living a typical family

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life in the Pacific Northwest, which he considers an astounding beauty with the

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mountains and the greenery and forests.

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Life was special every day.

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But like most kids, he grew up and moved away.

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Last week episode 139, Bob shared his positive imprints as a pioneer

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of sports medicine and podiatry, and how he helped these practices evolve.

Catherine:

Decades later, Bob retired and he had this amazing transition

Catherine:

in his life that had little to do with the precision of science.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I went from left brain to right brain, literally put it that way.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Yes.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I did it on purpose.

Dr. Bob Parks:

The exactness of surgery is so unbelievable.

Dr. Bob Parks:

There is very little margin for error and with art, you are so loose with

Dr. Bob Parks:

the brush because the composition will tell you what it wants, if you let it.

Dr. Bob Parks:

The composition and the piece of art will evolve.

Dr. Bob Parks:

But in, in medicine and particularly surgery, you don't have do-overs.

Dr. Bob Parks:

You have to have a plan, A a plan B a plan C, and particularly

Dr. Bob Parks:

with trauma, it doesn't always work out exactly like you'd hope.

Dr. Bob Parks:

But transitioning from medicine where I use my hands in a very exacting

Dr. Bob Parks:

manner into art where it's right brain, and you have to just be a

Dr. Bob Parks:

free thinker it was a struggle.

Dr. Bob Parks:

In fact, when I first took a lesson, my art teacher who's unbelievably good

Dr. Bob Parks:

and he says, oh God, not another surgeon, and I said, why?

Dr. Bob Parks:

And, and I've, I've found over the years why is because we are very

Dr. Bob Parks:

exact and with art being exact, isn't the best way to be oftentimes.

Dr. Bob Parks:

But.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I wanted something completely different.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I always kind of thought when I heard that somebody was an artist, I thought that

Dr. Bob Parks:

was kind of strange and kind of unique.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I thought, well, that would be something interesting.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And someone else asked me, they said, well, why did you pick art?

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I said, you know, I have found through my sports and my, athleticism that

Dr. Bob Parks:

the journey is the most enjoyable part.

Dr. Bob Parks:

It's not the destination or the outcome of your marathon time

Dr. Bob Parks:

but it's the journey of training and becoming more proficient at a, uh, at

Dr. Bob Parks:

a hobby or vocation or profession that is really, to me, the most appealing.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I wanted something that I could do for many years.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Now, looking back historically, I started with photography and that

Dr. Bob Parks:

has helped me tremendously, as far as

Dr. Bob Parks:

composition and the photography kind of worked in conjunction with sculpting.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So I did wood sculpting and I would make totem poles.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Large ones.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I would make, Kachina dolls.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Life-sized kachina dolls, which is rather unusual.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I hadn't seen them before, but I'm using chainsaws and large tools.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I realized over a period of time, I wouldn't be able to do that any longer.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So, um, as the chainsaw, it's heavy, it's heavy work.

Dr. Bob Parks:

You get tired after a while.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Not, not to mention the fact you might injure yourself.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I had a question about some, , necklace I was putting on a

Dr. Bob Parks:

Kachina, carving it and painting it.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I called this one teacher , and his answer wasn't appropriate for what I

Dr. Bob Parks:

needed but, there was something that intrigued me about what he talked about.

Catherine:

And intrigued bob was, he purchased some cheap

Catherine:

paint and paint brushes, and began painting a few pictures.

Catherine:

He even took online lessons from the art Sherpa.

Dr. Bob Parks:

This is a lot of fun, but more importantly,

Dr. Bob Parks:

it was a heck of a challenge.

Dr. Bob Parks:

, Hmm, I think I like this.

Catherine:

Bob contacted the art teacher who intrigued him weeks earlier

Catherine:

and signed up for classes with him.

Catherine:

Classes are once a week and they're not just hands-on with the brush.

Dr. Bob Parks:

It's not uncommon that we'll never pick up a

Dr. Bob Parks:

paintbrush in three hours time.

Dr. Bob Parks:

We'll talk entirely about composition color theory, and I'll bring in

Dr. Bob Parks:

something that I've been working on.

Dr. Bob Parks:

We'll look at it, we'll discuss it.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And the time just flies.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I might add for your listeners, Catherine, before I forget, is that

Dr. Bob Parks:

when you're seeking out a hobby or anything that really drives

Dr. Bob Parks:

you, Think of those times when you might be pursuing that endeavor.

Dr. Bob Parks:

At 12 or one in the morning and your wife says, Bob, are you coming to bed?

Dr. Bob Parks:

That that is something that drives you and you probably should tune

Dr. Bob Parks:

into that and maybe make that one of your life choices as far as hobbies.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I enjoy the process.

Dr. Bob Parks:

The learning curve with painting is extreme, the frustrations possibly,

Dr. Bob Parks:

but only through frustration and failure can you actually achieve

Dr. Bob Parks:

the proper course of success.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And that's true with any walk of life.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I think as you probably know, Teddy Roosevelt, Abraham Lincoln, so many

Dr. Bob Parks:

other famous people have said without failure, you have no success because

Dr. Bob Parks:

you don't know your boundaries.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So I found that the learning curve for art and particularly painting was just

Dr. Bob Parks:

something that really attracted, me.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And it's something that one painting you may work a month

Dr. Bob Parks:

on and it's layer after layer.

Dr. Bob Parks:

It's this is good.

Dr. Bob Parks:

This is bad, but this directs me in a new direction.

Dr. Bob Parks:

That I just find so rewarding.

Catherine:

My mouth has just dropped because you weren't

Catherine:

even painting prior to this,

Dr. Bob Parks:

I never took a painting course.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I never drew, I never took a class in sketching, nothing.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I said, I want to do something where I start out baseline zero and

Dr. Bob Parks:

I study and I study and I continue to study and try new things.

Catherine:

you have an incredible talent.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Like, you know, you look at, uh, you look at a movie star

Dr. Bob Parks:

and you say, oh, that looks easy.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Well, you don't know what went into all of that.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Or a person says, how, how much is this painting?

Dr. Bob Parks:

And a person might say, well, this is $10,000.

Dr. Bob Parks:

How could you ask so much?

Dr. Bob Parks:

It's just paint on a canvas.

Dr. Bob Parks:

It will take 30 to 50 hours oftentimes and oftentimes developing the composition

Dr. Bob Parks:

before you even put paint on canvas takes as long as the actual painting

Dr. Bob Parks:

process to come up with an idea, the color scheme that you're going to

Dr. Bob Parks:

use, that's going to be attractive

Dr. Bob Parks:

and it's going to satisfy you as an artist.

Catherine:

Oh, my gosh, your paintings are incredible.

Catherine:

And oh, your house is just covered with Bob Parks paintings, and

Dr. Bob Parks:

I might add Catherine that I feel bad.

Dr. Bob Parks:

No, no, I do feel bad.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I do feel bad that my wife and I do have a fair amount of original art in our house.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And as I find a piece that I like of my own, I take down this original

Dr. Bob Parks:

art from somebody else and put it in a closet and put my, own up.

Dr. Bob Parks:

But I guess that's good.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I do enjoy looking at my own work.

Catherine:

I don't know that I could pick up a paintbrush and do what you're doing.

Catherine:

What kind of mindset goes on?

Catherine:

What'd you have to have, cause you did go from left to, right?

Dr. Bob Parks:

Yes.

Dr. Bob Parks:

That's that's a real good question.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Because for example, we've been up here in the Brazos for three or four days

Dr. Bob Parks:

and I haven't picked up a paintbrush.

Dr. Bob Parks:

You do have to be in the right mindset and I don't think I'm unique in that.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I have to be relaxed.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Fortunately, I, I find that going out for a run or a bike ride to just

Dr. Bob Parks:

loose some steam, so to speak and get into a relaxed type of, uh, feeling.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And also I like to paint with music.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So I mean the stars have to be aligned.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Although I do paint probably 20 hours a week, it's almost full-time work for me.

Dr. Bob Parks:

The thing I do, I might add, enjoy about my painting is I

Dr. Bob Parks:

don't rely on it for income.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I think a lot of people that do they get stuck in a rut of

Dr. Bob Parks:

painting a certain composition.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And that's good.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I would have loved to have done that as, as a career potentially, but I

Dr. Bob Parks:

continue to shift between abstract and photo realism and, and other unique

Dr. Bob Parks:

types of painting just because I like to continue to pursue challenges.

Dr. Bob Parks:

, but you have to getting back to your question.

Dr. Bob Parks:

You have to be in the proper mindset before you sit down.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And my wife, Allison, she gets a kick because I'll be up in my

Dr. Bob Parks:

studio for three or four hours and I'll come down and she goes, well?

Dr. Bob Parks:

I lost the war this time.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I think it was Winston Churchill, who was a painter.

Dr. Bob Parks:

He said painting is like going to war and you never know who's gonna win.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And sometimes you can just feel it.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Sometimes when you get on a roll and it just flows.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And other times it's like you're fighting against the, the paint and the canvas.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And when that happens, you have to set it all down and you just walk away.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Maybe you go out and exercise, you need to give it a day or two.

Dr. Bob Parks:

But, uh, um, being in the right frame of mind to let the energy flow.

Dr. Bob Parks:

My teacher told me at first, and I didn't really believe it that a

Dr. Bob Parks:

person's personality and how they're feeling while they're painting

Dr. Bob Parks:

actually comes out onto the canvas.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And to me, it just sounded like a bunch of baloney, but it's actually true.

Dr. Bob Parks:

It is actually true.

Dr. Bob Parks:

For example, when I, when I painted a Mick Jagger and in a, uh, Style called

Dr. Bob Parks:

a spontaneous realism where you take color values, different colors, but

Dr. Bob Parks:

the color values light versus dark.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And you paint these very abstract and vivid compositions.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I would play, , Mick Jagger music, only Mick Jagger music.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I just finished a character portrait on Freddie Mercury, and I

Dr. Bob Parks:

am just stuck on Freddie Mercury.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And my wife says, please paint another artist.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I can't take it anymore.

Dr. Bob Parks:

so you have to get in the mood.

Dr. Bob Parks:

You have to appreciate it.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And also what I find is that if you have personal experience,

Dr. Bob Parks:

Let's say, for example, you visit a place and you see something.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I'm painting

Dr. Bob Parks:

cape Royal now from the north room of the grand canyon.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Well, I've been there.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I've, I've photographed it.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I know it very well.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And, and that's the thing.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I find that if you're a photographer or if you're a painter, you appreciate

Dr. Bob Parks:

the environment so much more.

Dr. Bob Parks:

You look differently.

Dr. Bob Parks:

You look at the shadows, you'll look at the petals of a, flower and you'll

Dr. Bob Parks:

look how parts are , are radiolucent.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Other parts are opaque and the color variation.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So I can't remember.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I think it was Ansel Adams that said, 'a camera allows a person to really see

Dr. Bob Parks:

better.' And I think that's very true and I've taken up painting, particularly

Dr. Bob Parks:

for that reason too, that allows me to really appreciate nature, but you have

Dr. Bob Parks:

to have a connection to what you're painting, unless there's a connection

Dr. Bob Parks:

and certainly if you're simply copying a photograph, like my art teacher would

Dr. Bob Parks:

say, just put the photograph on the wall.

Dr. Bob Parks:

What are you doing?

Dr. Bob Parks:

Like you're just copying somebody else's work.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So there has to be a force of energy that, that is transmitted from you onto

Dr. Bob Parks:

the canvas that hopefully the person that looks at it can get a feeling for.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Um, Frank Sinatra.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I painted him and, uh, I use blues.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Why?

Dr. Bob Parks:

Blue eyes?

Dr. Bob Parks:

Ol', blue eyes.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Um, I painted Beethoven, uh, which is in Seattle right now.

Dr. Bob Parks:

It's hanging in Seattle and.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I painted real dark colors with Beethoven.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I felt that he has this presence, this very dark presence and

Dr. Bob Parks:

his music music is dark.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I did the same thing with that.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I listened to Beethoven the whole time I was painting him.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I think it comes across.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Sure.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Now you don't just do portraits.

Dr. Bob Parks:

You have done horses and you do landscapes and, a menagerie.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Yes.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I must admit part of that is just trying to find my niche and, and I've

Dr. Bob Parks:

only been painting for six years.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Why can't a niche, be a variety.

Dr. Bob Parks:

My show is a variety show.

Dr. Bob Parks:

It really can.

Dr. Bob Parks:

It certainly can.

Dr. Bob Parks:

but when I, an artist jumps from near photo realism that I'll do sometimes

Dr. Bob Parks:

to the somewhat more abstract, that is a, quite a breadth of, of styles.

Dr. Bob Parks:

But, but I think at this point, people can look at the brush strokes

Dr. Bob Parks:

and say, ah, yeah, I think that's consistent with your other work.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So what I'm saying is that, if you're looking at a John singer Sargent or,

Dr. Bob Parks:

or, uh, Pollock, I mean, you know, you can kind of tell from a distance,

Dr. Bob Parks:

oh, well that style is consistent with Monet or whoever it may be.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And most people end up evolving into a particular style that's recognizable.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And, and I agree with you at this point in time

Dr. Bob Parks:

I don't care.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I'm doing it because I liked doing it.

Catherine:

And they're awesome, I really love looking at the paintings and can

Catherine:

anybody pick up a paintbrush, even if they have all of this energy flowing

Catherine:

and they're in the right mindset, what kind of talent do you need to have?

Catherine:

To become a surgeon, you certainly have to go to training and practicing and so on.

Catherine:

Can you do that or do you need to have something inside that you're born with?

Dr. Bob Parks:

You, you have to have drive and you have to set your goals high.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And if you keep plugging away, you'll achieve those goals.

Dr. Bob Parks:

, and you have to be patient, you know, I, I rarely will see anybody's completed,

Dr. Bob Parks:

completed a painting that I won't find some joy with and they may be a beginner.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So who are we?

Dr. Bob Parks:

You know, to judge and say, oh, this painter is better than another painter.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So I clearly recommend that if a person just likes the feel of a paint brush

Dr. Bob Parks:

in their hand and wants to throw some paint by all means, give it a try.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I think the cheapest way I do it is go on the internet and

Dr. Bob Parks:

all you have to do is Google.

Dr. Bob Parks:

How do I paint a tree?

Dr. Bob Parks:

How do I paint a bird?

Dr. Bob Parks:

How do I paint a flower?

Dr. Bob Parks:

And there are so many websites that will take you through a video process.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Within an hour you'll have something that you can say.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I did that.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And if you're happy with that, and you say, gee, maybe there's something to that.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I encourage people to give it a try because it certainly was

Dr. Bob Parks:

nothing I ever thought I would be doing as I, as I got older.

Catherine:

Sure.

Catherine:

And now you're retired and you're able to just enjoy that.

Catherine:

People can go to your website.

Catherine:

I think they can purchase as well, but they can go to the website

Catherine:

and look at all of your artwork.

Dr. Bob Parks:

It's six-Robert-Parks.Pixels.com.

Dr. Bob Parks:

, it's a good website, I think.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And the images are professionally photographed.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So they're done fairly well.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So, I think the listeners would , enjoy taking a look at that.

Catherine:

I enjoy looking at all the different variety landscapes and horses

Catherine:

and other animals, photography as well.

Catherine:

And some of your photography is there.

Catherine:

So I like to end with last inspiring words from my guests.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Well, I think in today's world, I was just reading an article

Dr. Bob Parks:

in the paper today about people that are working from home and how there's a

Dr. Bob Parks:

heightened level of depression, uh, with and in conjunction with working at home.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And the fact that we're spending so much time on the internet and

Dr. Bob Parks:

Facebook and these other sites, but we're finding that the joy and the

Dr. Bob Parks:

happiness in our lives is not there.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I don't speak for myself, but I see this happening.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I mean, you can talk about suicide rates, you can talk about any of

Dr. Bob Parks:

these other indices, uh, but they're all pretty consistent that people

Dr. Bob Parks:

are in a mental state of turmoil.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I really think that if people would become participants in life

Dr. Bob Parks:

instead of viewers or spectators, you know, instead of watching a

Dr. Bob Parks:

sport on TV, go out and do something.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So I always advocate that being a participant, whether you're painting

Dr. Bob Parks:

or taking a walk in the morning, all of these things are so important.

Dr. Bob Parks:

and I really think that our society is leading us in some respects down the

Dr. Bob Parks:

wrong pathway when you consider that, for example, some of the happiest people

Dr. Bob Parks:

in the world are in Papua or however you pronounce it, New Guinea, , they have

Dr. Bob Parks:

nothing and yet they are, they're smiling.

Dr. Bob Parks:

They've done these studies and they find that there's no correlation

Dr. Bob Parks:

between materialistic or financial, um, wellbeing and happiness.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And so I would suggest to the listeners that they take advantage of these

Dr. Bob Parks:

great opportunities, whether it be a hobby or a sport activity and fill

Dr. Bob Parks:

their life with action and endeavor instead of being a spectator in life.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I think.

Dr. Bob Parks:

You know, the, the, all of these niceties that we have that make

Dr. Bob Parks:

our lives easier in some regards have, I think backfired on us.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I think there's going to be a reckoning and a riding of

Dr. Bob Parks:

the ship, but I feel bad that so many other people feel bad.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I think we're starting to find out now exactly why this is the case.

Dr. Bob Parks:

So I would, I would, I would certainly like to put that out there.

Catherine:

That's good advice full of wisdom.

Catherine:

Bob, this has been so enlightening and having you share your

Catherine:

positive imprints with everybody.

Catherine:

And I so much appreciate it.

Catherine:

And I like that you have led a life, a very virtuous life, and you have

Catherine:

attained your happiness and the journey is not your destination, and you

Catherine:

are still traveling on your journey.

Catherine:

And I wish you the best of luck with all of your endeavors and

Catherine:

continue enjoying the process.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Thank you, Catherine.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I would just lastly, like to say that.

Dr. Bob Parks:

The fact that you have this podcast positive imprint,

Dr. Bob Parks:

I've listened to some of them.

Dr. Bob Parks:

And I am so inspired.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Cody Unser.

Dr. Bob Parks:

My goodness.

Dr. Bob Parks:

I did not know her story.

Dr. Bob Parks:

You know, we all know the Unser family.

Dr. Bob Parks:

In fact, some of them live up here, but that was so inspiring what she's

Dr. Bob Parks:

done and how she's teaching OB GYN, doctors on the subtleties of an OB GYN

Dr. Bob Parks:

Table, for paraplegics and all of this that, I just think what you're doing with

Dr. Bob Parks:

all the bad news we get in the world it's good to be able to escape and hear some

Dr. Bob Parks:

positive news that people might be doing.

Catherine:

Oh, thank you so much for that, Bob.

Catherine:

And, and of course I like you, would like people to go and find their

Catherine:

positive imprint and put it into action.

Dr. Bob Parks:

Thank you.

Catherine:

And I thank you for your positive imprint.

Catherine:

Bob's website is six spelled out S I X dash, Robert R O B

Catherine:

E R T dash parks, P a R K S.

Catherine:

Dot pixels, P I X E L s.com six-robert-parks.pixels.com.

Catherine:

Your positive imprint.

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