Aging Gratefully: Dr. Charles I. Weiner

December 23, 2025 Alan Feiler, Editor-in-Chief

Dr. Charles I. Weiner: "My dad's dream was for me to go into the [family] business, but I became a doctor instead. I never really saw myself as an artist.” (Photo by Robyn Stevens Brody)

For our annual “Aging Gratefully” cover package, Jmore interviewed three members of the Edward A. Myerberg Center in Northwest Baltimore to learn about how participating in creative endeavors there has added meaning, nuance and purpose to their lives.

Good Medicine

Creatively speaking, Dr. Charles I. Weiner calls himself “a chameleon.”

“If you ask me my particular [artistic] style, I’ll say, ‘I just don’t know yet,’” says Weiner, 79, who lives in Pikesville with his wife, Ilene. “I tend to like things that are a bit unusual, a little weird. Some people like it, and for some people it’s a little sick. But I like all kinds of art.”

A diagnostic radiologist, Weiner is alluding to the approximately 100 acrylic paintings that he’s created since retiring in early 2020 and taking art classes at the Myerberg Center.

“It keeps me out of my wife’s hair and gives me something to do,” he says. “Basically, what I did for a living is look at pictures, so it gave me an eye [for art].”

Weiner, who grew up in Baltimore’s Park Circle neighborhood and graduated from Baltimore City College, usually draws inspiration from images found on the internet, particularly from Pinterest.

“I like copying things, and my instructor says if you change it by 20 percent, it’s yours,” he says. “If I can find out who the artist is, I usually put their name on it along with mine. I just scroll through the internet until I find something that really inspires me.”

Some of the paintings hanging in Weiner’s family room and stacked up in his unfinished basement are vivid and colorful Italian landscapes and European seascapes. Others depict ballerinas, floral arrangements, the Statue of Liberty and art deco women.

“I tend to like more vibrant colors,” Weiner says. “Black and white in painting just doesn’t work for me. I don’t do faces that well, so I generally stay away from portraits.

“I once tried to paint an abstract and wound up throwing it away,” Weiner says. “They’re hard to do. I just like it to look as much as the original as possible.”

Art comes naturally to Weiner. His grandfather, Philip Weiner, was the founder of the Maryland China Company, now based in Reisterstown.

“He was a painter and decorator, and I used to watch him paint all the time,” Weiner says. “I just have it in my blood. I could always draw and sketch. My dad’s dream was for me to go into the business, but I became a doctor instead. I never really saw myself as an artist.”

During his professional career, Weiner — the father of three daughters and grandfather of six — says he occasionally worked on art projects for his kids and children in the neighborhood.

But after retiring during the onset of the pandemic, he began auditing Zoom classes in drawing and sketching from the Myerberg. Since in-person restrictions were lifted, Weiner takes a weekly art class at the center.

“The nice thing about the class is that we’re all good friends and give each other constructive criticism. We go to lunch every Wednesday,” he says. “I’m much better now than I was. When I started, I didn’t know anything about brushes or paint or composition. Now, I paint three days a week, for about an hour or two. I know I’m finished [a painting] when I’m happy with it.”

For the most part, Weiner gives away his artworks to family and friends.

“So far, I’ve only sold one painting. It was of Taylor Swift,” he says with a chuckle. “A girl who works at the Myerberg bought it and loved it.”

When he’s not busy painting or spending time with family, Weiner can usually be found working out, playing canasta or reading.

“This fills my time,” he says of painting. “Everyone needs a hobby, something to get out of bed for. I just like it when people enjoy what I create and put them in their home.”