About the Artist
Douglas L. Weber — Portrait Artist, b. 1967
First painting, 1975
1976
1975
Early Spark
My obsession with drawing began around age five, when my mother discovered that the best way to keep me from being a restless, annoying brat in a restaurant was to hand me a pad of paper and some pencils. By third grade, my peers had stopped drawing and were pointing at me saying, “You’re the artist.” Around the same time, my mother signed me up for Saturday painting classes.
It was there that—for the first time, unlike at school—I felt I was actually good at something.
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It was also around this time that my mother went to a fortune teller who said, “Your son is an artist. He likes to draw faces, and he will be a famous millionaire by the time he turns 30.” That prophecy stuck with me.
1984
With Lisa Sirois, 1988
Prisma color pencil drawing, 1984
Education & Early Influences
My formal training began at the Boston Museum School of Fine Art, where the emphasis was on creativity theory and critical thinking for pictorial solutions. At the time, Basquiat’s raw, expressive, punk-rock approach to painting was a major influence on me.
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By the time I reached 30, my sales were still mostly under $1,000, and it became clear that my education was not complete.
1989
1995
1996
Florence: The Classical Detour
Once again, my mother decided I should study classical realism in Florence, Italy, under Charles Cecil. We worked with charcoal drawings of plaster casts in the “sight-size” method—a strict discipline that required drawing exactly from observation.
I broke that rule by adding an imaginary background. Charles was furious, condemned me in front of the class, and gave me the silent treatment until I left—effectively ending my attempts at classical realism for decades.
Instead, I embraced a more outsider-art approach influenced by colorful Mexican film and circus posters. I painted anyone who would sit for me—my likenesses were inconsistent, but always expressive.
The Writer's Studio, Santa Fe, 2018
Portrait of Allie Stewart, Bisbee, 2023
Doug at Pythian Castle, Bisbee, 2025
The Long Road to Portraiture
In 2009, I studied briefly with Ted Seth Jacobs, who gave me a lesson that changed everything. Soon after, I traveled the country as a pop-up pastel portrait artist, drawing hundreds of people. Even after all that practice, my accuracy was still unreliable—though my expressive style remained consistent.
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In 2017, at age 50, I enrolled in the Ryder Studio’s nine-month portrait intensive, which finally gave me the tools I needed to grow into the portrait artist I am today.
Florence, 1997
The Bisbee Years
In 2020, I relocated to my home studio in Bisbee, AZ, now inhabiting a former storefront in the Pythian Castle. My plans to sell directly to the public were shut down by the pandemic. I now work part-time restoring historic properties—about 20 hours a week—which allows me to paint freely in the afternoons.
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Five years later, I can officially add “handyman” to my resume, but this website marks my attempt to step away from that safety net and support myself full-time as an artist.
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I'm not sure if it was the psychic’s prophecy or my professors’ belief in “the calling,” but something kept me on this path. I’m proud of the work shown here and hope these paintings find homes so I can continue creating—and make space for the new work still ahead.
Portrait of Aurelia Cohen, Bisbee, 2025
Bisbee renovation project, 2025
