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,
Hello
I m Doug
I was born in Centralia and grew up exploring the rocky shores of Puget Sound...
I have always had a deep connection to nature, and often find beauty in ordinary and easily ignored objects, which reflects heavily in my art and basically everything I do.
I started drawing from a young age and most of my drawing skills and knowledge are self-taught.
It wasn't until later on when I opened my own business, that I was able to dedicate more of my time to my true passion: art.
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I took sculpting classes with my brother Steve, who is already an established artist and owner of Cellar Cast, a fantasy sculpting and casting business, and also ventured into drawing and coloring (I use colored pencils), and painting. I’ve had a couple of my sculptures sent to Japan, and also a few of my drawings featured in cards.
Becoming open to many different artistic mediums and paths has helped me to develop my creative style into unique pieces I am very proud of. My birdhouses are a celebration of nature, art, and the Pacific Northwest. Each one is unique and made with love and attention to detail.
As a young boy, I was always collecting random things– leaves, branches, twigs, rocks, and bugs. Fast forward to today, and here I am collecting pieces of wood and moss for my birdhouses. I find myself inspired by these things I stumble across, and I love all the raw textures of wood that have been exposed to the elements and how it reveals itself when I carve it.
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My creative process starts when I hold these wood pieces in my hands. I can see faces and outlines and as I begin carving the whole thing takes a life of its own. Once the overall idea of how I imagine the birdhouse is defined, I start to tweak it here and there adding the details: mushrooms, little doors, moss, bark – I am a stickler for even the smallest detail.
I always appreciate how in the end every birdhouse has a personality of its own.
I hope you enjoy my work, and hope you find something you love and feel connected to, and can share
with your friends and family!
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the inspiration
"Certainty of death. Small chance of success. What are we waiting for?"
Gimli in Lord of the Rings: Return of the King
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I am a big fan of fantasy movies like "The Dark Crystal", "Labyrinth", "Lord of the Rings" and "Harry Potter" and they have been a constant source of inspiration to me. You will find it easy to recognize how it is reflected in my work.
Honoring & Remembering
The lamplighter and the knife grinder
Two Birds in a Pod was born of my passion for birds and nature but was also born as a way of healing.
In the past eleven years, I have been struck by the loss of two of the most important people in my life: my best friend Michael in 2012, and my younger brother Luke, to brain cancer in 2019.
Grief numbs your body, breaks your heart, and drains your veins, but grief also is just another form of love. Thinking about my brother sometimes overwhelms me with agony because he is not around anymore, but thinking about him also fills me with immense joy. I think about the happiest moments of my life that we shared, and it makes me feel incredibly grateful.
Working with wood and building birdhouses has provided me with a healthy way to cope with grief and anxiety. It taught me about mindfulness and gave me the strength to pull through knowing that my grief will never be too big for nature to hold. I find comfort in building birdhouses and foraging for all the natural elements I use to decorate them. Nothing in this world can bring them back, nothing can ever replace their presence, and nothing can ever explain my loss. But acknowledging their lingering presence in my life and living a happy, fearless life just like they did is my Option B, and remembering and honoring them through my work gives me something positive to focus on and to be proud of.
When I build a birdhouse I am not just putting pieces of wood together. I am pouring my heart out.
Even in the most difficult moments, I’m aware that I’ve been extremely lucky and it makes me so happy when people can see it reflected in the whimsy of my birdhouses.
" I believe my loved ones live on within me and I’m grateful for their influence in shaping the man I am today.
If I could live a life half as whole as theirs and celebrate every moment just the way they would want me to, I would consider myself lucky. "
Luke & the silly hat
Luke & Durango
In remembrance
praise of a man
"He went through a company like a lamplighter —
see the dull minds, one after another,
begin to glow, to shed
a beneficent light.
He went through a company like a knifegrinder
— see the dull minds
scattering sparks of themselves,
becoming razory, becoming useful.
He went through a company as himself.
But now he’s one of the multitudinous company
of the dead where are no individuals.
The beneficent lights dim but don’t vanish.
The razor edges dull but still cut.
He’s gone: but you can see his tracks still,
in the snow of the world."
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