Douglas H Caves Sr
Paxton, MA
Doug Caves Sr., contemporary American painter. I paint to capture moments of quiet beauty and shared experience. Inspired by ordinary light and everyday scenes.
Message
Doug is a painter driven by the interplay between environment, emotion, and form. Working primarily in oil and acrylic, his compositions are built from layers of color, light, and texture—each piece rooted in the subtle, poetic moments of daily life. From sunlit countertops to half-open doors, Doug’s imagery evokes a sense of serenity and introspection.
He draws inspiration from nature, people, and art history, blending classical techniques with contemporary nuance. His process emphasizes spontaneity and structure: compositions are sketched in charcoal, underpainted with warm tones, and built up through translucent glazes that enhance depth and surface vibration.
Doug’s work reflects a commitment to visual storytelling—an invitation to engage with the world through quiet discovery and emotional clarity.
Caves is currently represented by The Portland Art Gallery, 154 Middle Street, Portland Maine, Sorelle Fine Arts Gallery, Westport, Connecticut, the Copley Society of Art, 158 Newbury Street, Boston, Massachusetts. He is a member of the Massasoit Art Guild, E Brookfield and Concord Art, Concord, MA. in oil and acrylic, his
Statement
I paint to fulfill a need to make my ideas about painting and what it means to me relevant to my neighbors across the world. My feeling is that paintings have an incredibly special place in any society: they are an integral part of the larger puzzle of how we have gotten to where we are today. Paintings say things that words alone cannot convey. Paintings say things that resonate with a being in a way that forever changes them. That is why I chose to be a painter. I want to be included in the ranks of those that choose to use drawing and painting to communicate their thoughts, impressions, and ideas. It seems like a valid and complete way to communicate one’s ideas to me, and I try to be a thoughtful, contributing member of the artist community.
I am inspired to paint by the things that occur throughout an ordinary day. A ray of sunshine through the kitchen window landing on the countertop, a door swung partially open to the room beyond. The landing of light splayed across the surface of objects as they appear in the moment, in their setting, in their environment, invites me into a new world, an unexplored territory that yearns to be discovered, a new handling of light and paint and line and shape.
I make my pieces on canvas, usually using oil but sometimes acrylic paints. Once I have a clear idea of what I want to make a painting about I go about selecting the size of the canvas. The size or scale of the picture plane is usually decided by the subject matter of the composition and the presence I want the image to adopt. With those decisions made I then sketch out a drawing on the canvas as loosely as possible while keeping my main compositional elements adhering to scale, structure perspective and flow. Once the charcoal drawing is done, I then tie it down with a wash or glaze of transparent burnt sienna or cadmium red light to give warmth to the underpainting and neutralize the white of canvas.
I always have a color scheme in mind for a piece and go about mixing up the paints to get the colors I will use for the session. I build the painting in layers, allowing the tones of the earlier layers to come through to enhance the vibrational velocity of the surface. The degree of transparency is specific to the subject matter and feel I want a piece to project.
My range of interests as a painter is wide and I draw inspiration from nature, people, and art history. As a result, the look and feel of my paintings vary from piece to piece and over time as I explore new subject material. There is an overall sense of serenity that persistently manifests in my work. This is my attempt to understand the dynamic forces all around me and shape them into cohesive ideas or emotions.