Raised in Woodstock, Ontario, Douglas began a long distinguished career in music, earning his MusBac in composition after serving in the Royal Canadian Air Force in WWII. During the war he was Music Director of the Greenwood Male Choir. Their well known concerts were broadcast weekly on CBC radio. A brilliant recitalist both on organ and piano, he served on the faculty of the Royal Conservatory of Music in Toronto and the Faculty of Music, University of Toronto. He was an organist and choirmaster in Toronto for 53 years serving at various religious communities.
He had over 50 solo exhibitions in galleries across Canada, and his work is represented in private and corporate collections around the world, including the permanent collection of Ontario House in London England as well as in many private collections in Sweden, England, New Zealand, Australia, Canada and the United States.
An avid outdoor painter, he loved capturing the true atmosphere of each season on canvas and documenting East coast harbours and fishing communities, particularly in Nova Scotia, Newfoundland and Gloucester, Massachusetts. He and his wife Elizabeth spent 50 wonderful summers painting, camping and trailering. His companion on many of these trips was Adrian Dingle (RCA, OSA). Douglas also studied in the United States under Emile Gruppe.
He paints in a loose impressionist style mainly with a palette knife and a thick brush. Douglas was a member of the Ontario Institute of Painters and a member of the Fine Art Society of Milton. Douglas passed away at the Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre, Veterans' Wing, in his 96th year, after a long and courageous battle with cancer.
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