My paintings come from a personal emotional response to the people, places, and circumstances I experience. I make paintings that explore how these emotions are evoked through the images on the canvas. The subtle play of light and texture across the structures and artifacts of the New England landscape inspire me. I build my canvases in layers of color and brush strokes that help me draw out the personal feeling I am experiencing and land it on the canvas. Through exploration and discovery, my process takes me through to an expression of those emotions. Through delicate shifts in tone and composition, I find the right “mood” of what is I am trying to paint. I hope to evoke an essential emotion in the viewer that communicates that and draws you in, offering you a reason to pause.” Doug Caves studied oil painting with Tom Morris of Fitchburg during his early teenage years. He later attended the Fine Arts Program at Mt. Wachusett Community College, studying art history, painting, drawing, and sculpture. He received the school’s Annual Purchase Award for his bronze sculpture “Head of Joy” in his last year of attendance. He has studied painting and drawing at the Worcester Art Museum and creative writing at Clark University. These days he frequently paints along the Southern Maine Coast and in the rural hills of Central Massachusetts, finishing his larger works in his studio. He currently offers landscape and still life painting classes through various venues and learning programs.