"Dioramic Constructs"

Each piece is a unique diorama built on the flat surface of a picture plane, like setting props on a theater stage. Click on the image to read the associated story of the piece.

Lone Tree Arts Center will host Doug's one man show January thru March 2026.

Doug's mixed media art has been nominated for the 2025 Creative and Visual Arts Award in the LUXlife digital magazine, which has over 34,000 subscribers.

20 pieces...

Church of The Owl and Butterfly

A pagan worship song of an owl and a butterfly is sung from printed copies of a homemade hymnal. In the teachings, the owl guided souls to the afterlife, while the butterfly represented transformation and new beginnings. The symbols intertwined in the light facets of the stained glass window and in the minds of the believers.
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3D mixed media, oil paint on panel, oil markers, acrylic pieces,maple frame
26.5 x 48 x 1.5

livin off the grid

In an abandoned cabin a young man lived without modern conveniences—no electricity, plumbing, or connectivity. He embraced simplicity, finding peace in nature's beauty. The self-sufficient, challenging lifestyle, was statement to his belief in a deep connection to the environment. A statement disconnecting with the algorithms of his past life.
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3D mixed media, lighted shadowbox, oil on canvas, reclaimed wood frame
44 x 36 x 6

Protection

An umbrella is a symbol of protection. It shields people from the rain, but its symbolism goes deeper. We live in a society filled with digital threats, I’m reminded of my recent fraud hassle. Just as the umbrella creates a barrier against the rain, people build layers of security to guard against digital dangers. This simple tool reminds us of the importance of safeguarding ourselves and loved ones of the financial liability in the digital world.
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3D mixed media, dyed canvas, dyed burlap, acrylic paint on plexiglass
42 x 32 x 6

Skytiles

Above the foothills a curtain of rain inches toward my porch. The blue sky and bright clouds glow in the distant backdrop. The showers of the Colorado front range typically don’t last long. This one would be brief if at all. This rain would be different than the long and steady continuum of misty showers that could last for days in northern Ohio where I grew up, peddling my bike through puddles racing home after our rained out wiffle ball game.
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3D mixed media, paper collage on canvas, oil paint on panel, air brush on panel
46 x 36

Coal fired, circa 1968

Originally constructed in 1957, the Cherokee Generating Station in Denver, Colorado served as a coal-fired, steam-electric generator. During that era, the engineering and construction relied heavily on hand-drawn blueprints. The tall stacks of the plant pushed nitrogen and sulfur dioxide to a higher altitude, away from pedestrians, to avoid respiratory and cardiovascular illnesses, brain damage, cancer, and premature death.
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3D mixed media, panel on canvas, oil paint on panel, acrylic on canvas. metal frame, barbed wire.
36 x 24

Habitats for Humanity

Earth is the “current” habitat for humankind, but not for long if NASA has its way. At NASA, astronomers have been diligently exploring and researching the possibility of inhabiting a future home: Mars. During my tenure as a Senior Illustrator at Martin Marietta, I had the lifetime opportunity to work on illustrations for NASA’s Mars Observer program. This piece aims to illustrate the present and future habitats for humanity, showcasing our journey from the blue planet to the red planet.
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3D mixed media, hand carved HDF, oil paint, metal framed painted panels
16 x 20 x 3

Sharp-eyed blind

In the dense woods, a natural blind allows hunters to blend seamlessly with the environment, using the canopy as cover. This highlights the importance of understanding and balancing the decisions of the hunt, the taking of a life, the primal instinct, the sport, and the connection to the natural world, fostering up harmony and the cruelty of the environment.
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3D mixed media, acrylic on Plexiglass, oil on panel, paper cutouts, string
18 x 24

Pulpit Master

Rising above the banks of Clear Creek in Clear Creek County, Colorado, is this rock formation. I frequented this spot in the river when I worked for AVA Rafting Company. Its shapes seemed like spiritual pulpits looking down on me, like four high priests standing over me. The pulpit master is the guiding force of all religions.
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Mixed Media – oil on canvas, wood frame, china figurine

Beach Music

Remember the pounding sounds of waves crashing on the beach? This is the music that travels to your ancient soul. Narrowing my focus into the scene, I watch every drop rise in the air and fall to the foaming sand. My line of sight skips off the high arch of the wave, wisps deep into the perspective’s horizon line. The musical chorus plays repeatedly—the soft thunder and the wet crash. I stare over my white toes while the music plays on.
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3D mixed media. Fabric, oil paint on panel
21.5 x 29.5

Mist Valley

A mist-like curtain hung above the gently moving river water, riding the undulations flowing between the rounded rock bed as it has been doing for forty million years. The opaque haze moved down from the cool, pre-winter highland air. Slow and weak, the flow of 28 cubic feet per second will grow in the spring runoff of the melting snow to over 1,200 cubic feet per second, a 4515% increase.
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Mixed Media – oil paint, wood veneer, mylar, wood frame

Earth Rings

High above, the jet contrails formed by frozen water vaper from aircraft engines. Viewed from the ground, a smoky white trail arced low in the morning sky from the eastern horizon to the western horizon, creating a line drawing that traces the Earth's curvature. This perspective zooms out from my everyday life to a position looking down from a orbiting spacecraft, like an astronaut.
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Mixed Media – oil paint, wood frame, raw and primed canvas with fasteners, polyurethane plastic, string

The Sunrise Compliment

I sometimes scramble to pull my phone out of my pocket while I’m driving—not to answer a call, but to get to my camera. Many of my paintings reference photos that are taken while I’m driving. It’s the addictive vision of light and shadow in a perfect composition. This painting is based on the sunrise that happened while I was driving to a part-time job at Lowe’s.
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3D mixed media, acrylic on canvas & Plexiglass, oil paint on panel, plastic wrap, metal hardware
40 x 30

Flyover State

Geese migration is indeed a fascinating natural phenomenon. These birds migrate thousands of miles to find food and suitable breeding conditions. During the winter, they typically fly south to seek warmer temperatures and open water sources for feeding and resting. As the seasons change, they return north in the spring to breed. This cyclical journey ensures that they have the best possible conditions for survival and reproduction.
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Mixed Media – oil paint, carved high density foam, acrylic paint on acrylic panel

Sky bridges

The checkered fields lay still under the sky bridges. The living reflect on the stillness of their lives, like watching imaginary flights that stitch together the departures and arrivals, connecting foreign territories. Yet they remain under the translucent bridge, tending their homestead. There is a feeling of quiet destinations, bridging the divides of existence.
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Mixed Media – oil paint, carved high density foam, mylar on acrylic panel

Reach for the Sky

Today in art schools, teachers still teach the lessons of drawing in perspective that were first taught around 600 years ago. The basic principles are that there are three ways to make drawings look three-dimensional. They are called one-point, two-point, and three-point perspective. These “vanishing points” are mechanisms to shape objects to look three-dimensional. “Reach for the Sky” is in one-point perspective. The trees follow that one invisible point in the sky, with branches vanishing up into a point in space and pulling us with them.
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3D mixed media, oil on canvas, bailing wire
32" x 48"

Apparition

We rock on the ocean’s undulating surface, the glassy water sloshing against the tar-coated planks of a wooden hull. The day’s sun has passed below the transition of the night sky. We pray for tomorrow. In the 14th century, ocean sailors long regarded seagulls as harbingers of good news. Are we witnessing the hopeful sign of past sailors’ souls, or is it stranded fatigue that forms this apparition?
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3D mixed media, oil on canvas, hand carved seagulls
16" x 20"

Premonition

Sitting Bull is widely believed to have had a premonition about the Battle of the Little Bighorn. His premonition is interpreted here. The 1876 battle was between the U.S. Army, led by Lieutenant Colonel George Armstrong Custer, and their enemies, consisting of Lakota Sioux, Northern Cheyenne, and Arapaho warriors. All 210 soldiers under Custer's direct leadership were killed.
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Mixed Media – pencil, color pencil on mylar

Reflecting Absence

There are two large fountains in New York City. They sit where the Twin Towers came down on 9/11/2001. These two enormous fountains circulate 52,000 gallons of water per minute. The entire volume of each fountain holds approximately 560,000 gallons, which circulate through the system every 22 minutes. The entire project is referred to as Reflecting Absence, designed by Michael Arad. When he submitted his design to the competition for the World Trade Center memorial, he was working for the New York City Housing Authority, designing police stations.
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Mixed Media – oil paint, printed film, wood frame, ribbon, mylar strips

Each piece is a unique diorama built on the flat surface of a picture plane, like setting props on a theater stage. Click on the image to read the associated story of the piece.

Lone Tree Arts Center will host Doug's one man show January thru March 2026. Doug's mixed media art has been nominated for the 2025 Creative and Visual Arts Award in the LUXlife digital magazine, which has over 34,000 subscribers.

20 pieces...

Lone Tree Arts Center will host Doug's one man show January thru March 2026.

Doug's mixed media art has been nominated for the 2025 Creative and Visual Arts Award in the LUXlife digital magazine, which has over 34,000 subscribers.