Russ Hardy retired after a successful career as an academic neurosurgeon in Cleveland, Ohio, and moved to Northern California. When contemplating retirement, he decided to embark on a second career as a watercolor artist. In Russ's words "reinventing yourself energizes you in many ways." He decided to combine a long time interest in fly-fishing with his new interest in painting, and so far believes his new career is going well. Besides, "while you're always on call if you're a neurosurgeon, no one wakes you at 2 am when you're an artist."