On a Wednesday morning before art college, the biggest thing
in Douglas' life happened to him:
"I'd always believed God raised Jesus
from the dead (the 1st half of getting saved), but that morning,
after a Bible study in my student house on the book of Nehemiah.
I announced "Wow, Jesus is the most important Person
in my life!" (the 2nd half of Romans 10:9). I knew I
was born again! I wasn't able to hear His Voice though, until
two years later when a few weeks into attending my first Full
Gospel church,
I prayed a simple prayer to receive the outpouring of the
Holy Spirit with evidence of speaking in tongues."
Douglas'
mother had been an artist and his childhood often involved creating
worlds outdoors in a garden of 3/4's of an acre; or preparing
marionette plays indoors for his half-brother.
"I
can remember how my nursery school teacher stood in front of
my easel and interrupted the Green Room's customary color dabbing
with 'Look everyone, Douglas is actually painting something'.
I can still see it; in thick-brushed lines and wonky shapes,
the Queen of Hearts."
From the significance of his very first art sale being that
of a favorite Washington Irving character
to his feeling for the country’s spiritual foundation,
a connection to America had been knit in Douglas’ heart
throughout his life.
"The
back story to my creative screenplay 'Crowned, C.T.'
is pivotal to 1800’s New England and I have fond memories
of working
at
summer camp in the location I set it. The way I seem to defend
a simple Gospel in the face of tradition in my blog makes
me wonder
whether one of my ancestors may have aided the Pilgrim Fathers;
I was raised in Plymouth, the port from which the Mayflower
set sail."
Douglas
is a graduate of Plymouth College of Art and Design and Northbrook
College of Design
and Technology and now lives and works from his home in North
London.
"Your
becoming part of my 'biography' by partaking in my work means
a great deal to me."
