Heather Leigh Douglas began her artistic career creating landscapes utilizing the batik method of dying and wax resist, on fabric. Those were early days after graduating from the University of Vermont in 1976 and moving to Boston.
Five years later she found herself in Rockland County helping to manage a new family business in the filming industry. The flexibility of this work allowed her to continue to pursue the arts. Over the ensuing years she studied watercolor, oil painting and black and white photography, eventually setting up her own darkroom. Photography was a necessary part of the family business but also contributed to Douglas’s sense of composition, shadow and light.
Discovering the encaustic process brought Douglas’s art practice full circle. Once again she was working in wax, which utilizes oil paint. She also began to incorporate toner transfers from her adapted photographs. Computer software had long ago replaced the physical darkroom.
She has become immersed in the encaustic process, creating pieces which reflect the world around her. Always experimenting, some of her work encompasses a variety of elements which blend well with encaustic.
Douglas has exhibited in national and international juried shows across the country including galleries and museums. She has had solo shows in the New York Metropolitan area of both her oil paintings and encaustics. Some of her pieces have been used in films and television commercials. Her work is held in private and public collections.
She graduated from the University of Vermont as a studio art major and has completed a certificate program at New York University in Art Collection and Display.
She and her husband are fortunate to live outside Manhattan, near two of her three daughters and their families.
Douglas is a member of New England Wax, National Association of Women Artists, and Oil Painters of America.
StatementNew York City provides an endless source of material, offering views of people and buildings, from a variety of perspectives.
My work is often an expression of the world around me. I am drawn equally to nature as well as to cities and architecture. A predominate feature in many of my pieces are toner transfers taken from photographs I’ve taken. These form the basis of many of my encaustic pieces. Encaustic is the process in which you paint with melted wax, fusing each layer together. When polished it gives a luminescence not seen in other mediums.
I often view my work as preserving a piece of the city as it exists in the current time. Living close to Manhattan provides me with endless inspiration, from its architecture to its streets and its people.
CvHeather Leigh Douglas
275 Kings Highway, Orangeburg, NY
www.heatherdouglas.com ~ paintings@heatherdouglas.com
914-841-8927
Education:
2013 Art Management & Display New York University - Certificate
2005, 2009 Oil Painting Art Students League, NY
1990-1992 Watercolor Dublin, Ireland
1984-1985 Oil Painting Suny Purchase, NY
BA 1976 Studio Art University of Vermont
Gallery Representation :
Synchronicity Gallery, 135 Sullivan St., Wurtzboro, NY
Solo Shows: 2014 “Heather Douglas”, Edward Hopper Art Center, Nyack, NY
2012 “Encaustic Endeavors”, Piermont Library, NY
2011 Barnes & Noble, West Nyack, NY
Recent Selected Juried Shows :
2024 - National Assoc. of Women Artists "Winter Small Works", NY, Online Gallery Exhibit
2023- JAG Gallery Small Works Exhibit, Key West, Fl.
“The Highs of Life”, Trolley Barn, Poughkeepsie, NY
“Depth Perception”, NAWA, Wellfleet Preservation Hall, Wellfleet, Ma.
“Chroma”, Hammond Hall Art Gallery, Fitchburg State University, Ma.
Ridgewood Art Institute 43rd Juried Show, Ridgewood, NJ
2022 - "2022 Five Points Small Works Exhibition", Torrington, Ct.
"Relationships: hot, cold, intricate", Wilson Museum, Southern Vermont Arts Center, Manchester, Vt.
"The Diptych Project; Transatlantic Fusion", New England Wax, The Commons, Provincetown, Ma.
2021 - "Cityscapes" Exhibition, Salmagundi Club, NY, NY
"Layering:The Art and Experience of Hot Wax", New England Wax, Cotuit Center for the Arts, Ma.
National Assoc. of Women Artists "Winter Small Works", NY, Online Gallery Exhibit
2020 - "Hudson Valley Art", Clarkesville Gallery, West Nyack, NY
"Art of Perseverance 2020" Virtual Exhibit curated by Elise Wagner Fine Art, LLC
Jones Gallery, August Group Show, Kansas City, Mo.
Upstream Gallery, Small Works, Hastings-On-Hudson, NY
Awards:
2023 1st Place, “Depth Perception”, Wellfleet Preservation Hall (Encaustic)
2020 2nd Place, Hudson Valley Art Juried Show, Clarksville Gallery (Encaustic)
2015 Honorable Mention, Nat.’l Assoc. of Women Artists Juried Small Works (Encaustic)
2014 3rd Place – National Association of Women Artists Juried Small Works (Encaustic)
Bibliography:
ArtAscent, Vol 9 - Oct. 2014, Heather Leigh Douglas, Skybase Publishing Inc.
Linda Chestney, Transformations, Artscope, Vol. 9 - #4, Sep./Oct. 2014
Bill Batson, Local Arts Index: Heather Douglas, Nyack News & Views, 2014,
http://www.nyacknewsandviews.c...
Alan Rowe, Art Buzz The 2014 Collection, Art Buzz Publishing, 2014
Janie Rosman, TZ Bridge Blog: Show Unites Westchester & Rockland Artists,
Rockland County Times, 7/3/2014
Memberships:
2013 – present New England Wax (Secretary 2015-2017)
2013 – present National Association of Women Artists, NY
2012 – present Oil Painters of America
2008-2019, 2023 Edward Hopper House
StateNY
CountryUnited States
