HHFA: Where were you born and where did you spend your childhood?
DF: I was born in South Miami and spent many summers in New England.
HHFA: What made you decide to become an artist?
DF: Not sure I have yet… but I may not have a choice. I draw and sketch constantly… it’s often the way I communicate. I think I see detail and visual relationships more readily than most people and I like the curiosity and exploration that drives in me. I’ve always been fascinated by “streamlining” things… creating impressions with less than full replication. I tend to do that with words and with music… painting has always presented great opportunities for that with line, color, light. My father painted – as a hobby -- and was a great explorer – no fear of failure at all. He encouraged me – in everything. I also started getting ego-attention as a kid because of my art, and liked it -- still do.
HHFA: When and where do you paint?
DF: In a small studio in my home in Atlanta. Outside on my deck in Atlanta. In the living room of a beach house in the Florida panhandle a lot in the winters. On a particular seaside cliff in Maine. On the dock at a friend’s house in a small cove in Abaco, the Bahamas.
HHFA: What hangs on your walls?
- Small oil by a Cuban artist – Lorendo Linares – loose landscape.
- Color pohotographs by Jim Laser.
- A small oil – loose landscape -- by a street artist I met in Buenos Aires.
- A beautiful oil pastel by my wife.
- Some architectural drawings.
- A number of late 19th century naturalist prints – mostly fish.
- Paintings and drawings by friends – David Braly, Boby McAlpine, others.
- A rather large abstract call “The Dethroning” by an artist whose name I don’t remember.
- Some black and white photography.
- Stuff of mine that I can’t seem to sell.
HHFA: Do you listen to music when you paint?
DF: Yes, and it varies … Lately…Blues, Italian Opera, Deep Jazz, Tchaikovsky, Vann Morrison, Madeleine Peyroux.
HHFA: What other passions to you have?
DF: Music, Food, Travel, Fishing, Language, Wine, Baseball, Football, Outdoor adventures with children, Friends, Competitive boule in the drive at Les Murets with a good rosé, Collecting Bones, Chinese Calligraphy, The Sea, and Love… not necessarily in that order.
HHFA: Can you tell us something about yourself that we’d never guess?
DF: Probably not.
HHFA: OK, then what books are on your bedside table?
· The Lobster Coast
· Guitar Man
· Into the Wild
· Florida Sportsman Magazine
HHFA: What’s your least favorite thing about being a professional artist?
DF: Painting when I have to… not when I want to.
HHFA: What’s your favorite thing about being a professional artist?
DF: Discovering – once I start -- that I wanted to paint after all.
HHFA: What can’t you paint without?
DF: An old 3/4” wide, square-edged, sable brush with a green handle… I love it… and paper towels.
HHFA: If you won a stipend to spend two weeks anywhere in the world, where would you go?
DF: This week… Abaco. Last week… Greece. Next week… Tuscany
HHFA: What is your favorite city to visit?
DF: Man… you guys like “favorites.” It hurts my head to have to choose. Can’t I have a little bit of everything? What if I leave something out? Maybe San Francisco. Used to visit there a lot. Have been missing it pretty deeply lately. Like Point Reyes to the north, the cool nights in Sanoma, and the Bay. Also, Arezzo (South of Florence) is nice too… great place to have lunch.
HHFA: If you could live anywhere, where would it be?
DF: Abaco… or Tuscany… or Montana… as long as I could get away to the other two (plus New York) any time I wanted to.
HHFA: Who has had the most influence on your life and why?
DF: My father – no fear…pursuit of passion. My wife – pace – purpose.
HHFA: What would you do if you weren’t an artist?
DF: Be bored… maybe act?… sing?… drink?
HHFA: What, in your refrigerator, can you not live without?
DF: Cheese.
HHFA: What is your favorite beverage?
DF: Wine
HHFA: What gets you out of your bed in the morning?
DF: My dog, Maggie.
Editor’s note: Doug’s gorgeous, evocative shoreline painting, “Mornings with Maggie” surprised us a little when we first saw it. We loved that whoever mysterious Maggie was, she was an inference, not a real presence in the painting. But we were a little troubled by her very existence, given our fondness for Doug’s lovely wife Alecia. So we were rather relieved to learn that Maggie was none other than this man’s best friend.
