A dermatologist for 30 years, Dr. Ronald Rovner spends most of his daylight hours examining and diagnosing cancers and other skin ailments.

But after hours he does something that has nothing to do with studying people's skin. He creates works of art.

Rovner’s medical career began in an odd way. One day he was in a bookstore at Cornell University, where he was studying quantum chemistry. He wasn’t thrilled with the path he’d chosen. A ray of sun came through a window and lit upon a book, and fate stepped in. “It was a textbook of human anatomy and physiology,” he said. “I started reading through it and something clicked.”

Rovner started taking pre-med classes at Cornell. He went on to medical school at Pennsylvania State University and completed his residency at Penn State.

He came to Maine Medical Center in Portland and enrolled in a dermatology program, graduating in 1986. After working in Providence, Rhode Island for a year and a half, he came back to Portland to take over for a retiring dermatologist. He now has an office in Scarborough, and comes to the Lincoln Medical Partners Building in Wiscasset twice a month to see patients in this area.

In his other life as an artist, Rovner doesn't just dabble in it. He is a recognized and respected artist in Maine’s art scene.

Rovner has only been making his art for around 12 years, but he has shown in some of Maine's more respected galleries, and has received at least one award.

Before turning to wood panels, that he constructs himself, and exotic papers, Rovner was a stained glass artist. His homes in Santa Fe, New Mexico, and Yarmouth are adorned with his stained glass windows, doors and transoms, and lamps.

But alas! Ronald Rovner had a third life! The doctor/artist was also an accomplished concert pianist at some point. He said he used to perform in public during high school and college, but didn't have the temperament or patience to make a career of it.

But that doesn't mean he doesn't think about music. It carries over into his art.

When in Santa Fe one winter he saw a two-dimensional cut metal sculpture that sparked his interest. He considered buying it. Then he thought, “Well, I could make that.” He didn't want to work in metal, so he set his sights on plywood, and bought saws and other equipment to cut it up into shapes.

He began assembling wood reliefs, but that got a little too complicated. “I woke up one night and was at an impasse,” he said. “And then it hit me like a bolt of lightning.” At 2 a.m. he started thinking about the 20th century composer Arnold Schoenberg and his “12-tone structures.”

“The music doesn't sound very good,” he said. “Some people call it music for the eye, not for the ear. But it's interesting on paper. So I started thinking about turning it into art.”

The series of wood panels Rovner has been making of late are comprised largely of symbols, or elements, that represent his visual interpretation of that music.

Elizabeth Moss, of Elizabeth Moss Galleries in Falmouth, will be showing Rovner’s work in August.

“His work is unlike any other contemporary artist I have seen today,” Moss said. “It seems to hark of ancient times both in its use of materials — papers like papyrus and jewel-toned inks. Ron Rovner has created a symbolic visual language only known to him. Despite the viewers’ ignorance we marvel and can appreciate the melodies and rhythms his symbols convey. They are abstract creations but ordered shapes in a musical language all his own.”

All of Rovner’s works are planned out on paper first, drawn to scale. He has several sketchbooks full of drawings that have been turned into paintings.

Rovner said he has all the confidence in the world when it comes to dermatology, but is still a little insecure about his art, which he has had no formal training in. “I'll finish a piece and think it's pretty good, but it really helps when someone gives me feedback — positive or negative.”

A self-proclaimed perfectionist, Rovner looks the part in his immaculate white physician's coat and his perfectly styled mane of white hair.

Deb Johnston, who has worked with him since 1998, managing his office affairs, offered a glimpse into her boss’s lighter side. “Working with Ron has been interesting, from getting corrected for my grammar, which he loves to point out to me daily, the awesome cocktails and fantastic meals he makes (except for being too heavy on the black pepper), his wittiness, to his daily drawings of a stick man gesturing to me. He’s a great artist, boss and a dear friend.”

Between being a doctor and being an artist, Rovner is going to be busy over the next couple months.The Elizabeth Moss Gallery  in Falmouth will be showing Rovner’s Nacht Musik series Aug. 4 - 20. The Kennebunk River Club will be including his work in its annual art show on Aug. 13 and 14, and beginning Sept. 2 there will be a show of his work in Rockland at Carver Hill Gallery.

On a recent day he was in his Wiscasset office. He had just completed a large piece. “I did this over the weekend,” he said. “Most of it was done over 10 hours on Saturday and 10 on Sunday, then I tweaked it a little on Monday and Tuesday nights.”

And some nights he just doesn't know when to quit. “I get into a zone and it's hard to stop,” he said. “Sometimes, before I know it, it's 2 in the morning. I find this enjoyable – not stressful.”