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Doug Hemler

 

Member profile details

Membership level
Associate Member
First name
Doug
Last name
Hemler
Profile Photo
 

About the Artist

Website
doughemlerart.com
Plein Air Artwork
Biography
As a fifth generation Wyomingite raised in Sundance and Casper, Doug’s roots in nature run deep. For a time he put away his sketch pad to pursue careers as a physician and and a military officer. In the late ‘80s, the US Army transferred him from Washington, D.C. to Colorado. Returning to the rugged vistas of the American West he began to feel the pull of the the landscape, painting and drawing. After fulfilling careers as a US Army Flight Surgeon, US Air Force Reserve Flight Surgeon, and a Denver-area sports medicine physician he sold his practice in 2018 and turned to his art full time. His role models include other military men turned artists including Wilson Hurley and Conrad Schwiering. He paints regularly with the PAAC Denver Group and Plein Air Painters of New Mexico. He credits Lorenzo Chavez, Peggy Immel, and Bill Davidson as his primary teachers. He is a member of PAAC, PAPNM, and OPA. He is represented by the Wilder Nightingale Fine Art gallery in Taos, New Mexico.

Doug’s story today is all about the simplification inherent in Plein Air: identifying a scene and translating its beauty on canvas. As that story and vision take shape, purpose comes to life. “Every painting should have a story in it,” he admits. “If a painting has my story in it, then it is perfectly capable of having someone else’s story in it as well.”

Joy and vision aside, there’s an inherent, altruistic theme in Doug’s painting and his artistic philosophy. “Art is good for people,” he says. “People all too often don’t have the opportunity to see things, experience things,” he explains. “But the message that comes from the painting can heal, make whole, make happy, make somebody’s life better. And maybe that will help them find peace and joy and maybe they’ll do something good for the world. As all artists know,"Art can save the world!"
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