Lorraine Robertson

A Life of Reinvention

At twenty-one, Lorraine Robertson survived a near-fatal illness that could have defined the rest of her life. Instead, it ignited a fierce determination to live fully. At thirty-two — married, raising two sons — she entered medical school, launching a career that would span thirty-five years of family medicine, addiction treatment, and tireless service to her patients and community.

When she retired in 2005, most people would have slowed down. Lorraine picked up a paintbrush.

The Art

Lorraine began painting at age seventy and has since created over five hundred original works in oil, acrylic, watercolor, and mixed media. Her approach is unapologetically bold — where her first instructor favored "less is more," Lorraine embraced the opposite. Her canvases are rich, layered, and alive with color.

Her subjects span the full range of human experience: sun-drenched landscapes, lush florals, spirited animal portraits, graceful dancers inspired by her own years of competitive ballroom, and intimate figurative works. Her celebrated "Ain't Love Grand" series — twenty-one acrylic paintings of elderly couples in everyday moments of affection — was inspired by the loving relationships she witnessed among her patients over decades of practice.

Her work has been exhibited at Empire Gallery in Sarasota, the Louise & Arnold Kotler Gallery in Tampa, and is held in private and corporate collections.

The Physician

Dr. Lorraine Robertson, MD, was a board-certified family practice physician with a subspecialty in addiction medicine. She maintained a private practice in Rockaway, New Jersey and dedicated years of pro bono care to uninsured patients at the Dover Free Clinic. Her holistic approach — treating patients with love, warmth, and caring as well as medicine — became the foundation of her medical philosophy and, later, her book.

Beyond the Canvas

Lorraine's creative energy has never been limited to a single medium. With her late husband James, she competed six times in the United States Amateur Ballroom Dancing Association National Championships. Together they appeared in thirteen community musical theater productions, with Lorraine often serving as choreographer.

She has been a member of the Meadows Chorus for fourteen years, taught herself flute in her seventies and performed with the Gulf Coast Flute Choir, studies piano seriously, and competes in duplicate bridge at clubs throughout Sarasota. In 2017, at the age of eighty-two, she was crowned Ms. Florida Senior America and represented the state at the national pageant.

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