Born
in Sacramento, California, 1949
Creatively driven, Doug’s artistic abilities were utilized and sharpened in the military. During 4 years in the Coast Guard he applied for and was assigned to Honolulu's 14th Coast Guard district headquarters as artist and photographers mate. There he created cartoons, article illustrations and photographs for the Coast Guard publication, Pacific Shield. Prior to his discharge, he was stationed at Winchester Bay, Oregon where one of his duties was keeping the station in murals and informational graphics on the 44-foot rescue boats.
Leaving
the military, Doug set out with only the dream of an artist's life and no idea
how to accomplish it. Doug settled in Gresham and signed up for every art class
available at Mt. Hood Community College. From this beginning, he realized he
could possibly get freelance illustration work of a kind he had done while in
the service. This was the beginning of Doug’s commercial illustration business.
With a solid understanding of perspective drawing, he became involved in
architectural rendering and before long was working or several of the house
planners and designers in the Portland area.
With
a couple of year's experience, he was offered a part time job teaching
architectural drawing at Mt. Hood. In 1981, he left the freelance business for
a job offer in Wiesbaden, Germany as the illustrator for the American Military
Club System. Doug found working for the military a bit taxing so by 1983 he was
back home with an armload of castle drawings and 3,000 photographs. He resumed
his business, expanding it to include photography.
Much of the fine art Doug creates today is accomplished in oil stick. It's a medium he has been exploring since the mid 80's, searching out its potential. Since 1998, he has concentrated on landscapes and has created many series of similar works including “Path to the Villa” and “From the Fields”.
“These are bold, colorful, intimate encounters with the subject matter. I try to keep them spontaneous, trying not to over work them. The impressionistic style, a kind of sophisticated crudeness and the depth created by heavy shadows make the pieces soft and visually pleasing.”
