Ridgefield Station Resident Enjoys Second Act As A Fine Artist
RIDGEFIELD, CT — When anesthesiologist Dr. Richard Natoli turned 70, the mandatory retirement age at North Shore Hospital where he worked, he was already well into his second act as an oil painter.
Now, 23 years later, his paintings fill the walls at Ridgefield Station, the assisted living home in Ridgefield where he has resided since his wife died about a year ago.
In that time, just under a dozen of Natoli’s photorealistic art pieces have gone on display.
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“I like to keep myself active,” he explained. With four stents in his heart for decades, it’s arguable that Natoli doesn’t know how to slow down.
In his Ridgefield Station apartment studio, the artist’s principal current project is a large Tyrolean landscape that hearkens back to his days as a medical school student in Bologna, Italy. He doesn’t get to work on it as much as he would like because he is too busy taking requests from other Ridgefield Station residents.
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“They give me a photograph of what they would like me to paint,” Natoli said. Most of the time, it’s a photo of grandchildren.
Natoli’s advice to those looking to take up the paintbrush, whether at the start or end of their careers, is to find the right teacher. Then, armed with the basics, there is only one rule, and it applies not only to painters but artists of every stripe:
“Just finish it.”
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