BIOGRAPHY

Doug Erion began painting in 1988. His paintings first appeared in exhibits in 1994. He has been juried into the National Arts for the Parks, National Oil Painters of America, The Colorado Governor's Art Show and the Colorado Biennial. He has also shown paintings at many regional shows including the acclaimed On the Trail of Lewis and Clark held in Denver.

In addition to his painting, Doug teaches painting and drawing at the Loveland Academy of Fine Art, hosts weekly drawing sessions in his studio, and serves on the Loveland Visual Arts Commission. He has been a resident of Colorado for more than fifty years and enjoys spending time outdoors fishing and bird hunting.

Christopher Cogley on Doug Erion...

Recently, I attended an art opening featuring the paintings of Doug Erion. As I was closely studying his paintings, and admiring the vigorous brushwork he used, I realized that although I had known him for many years, I had never really known the artist inside the man. But when I started talking with him about his art, I began to understand what was behind the paintings on the wall.

While his art is representational, it is evident immediately that it isn’t a rendering of a subject that he is trying to define, but rather how each form in the painting relates to each other, and to the whole. It is this trait that allows the viewer to understand the painting, and make a connection with it that Doug considers so important.

"Always I am fighting the thought of painting things or objects. It is when I paint shapes and colors in interesting patterns that the painting begins to feel like my painting – like my art."

Regardless of what he is painting, the thick, powerful application of paint on the canvas is a common bond that all of Doug’s paintings share. Although he studied with a wide variety of fine representational artists, Doug’s aggressive application is a trait that he doesn’t seem to have learned from any of them. It wasn’t just in his method of application where Doug began to differ from the artists that he had learned from, but in his individual style as well.

While talking to the artist really helped me to understand his work, I also believe that it isn’t just the artist who makes the man, but the man who makes the artist. Growing up, I had always known Doug Erion as a wealthy businessman, but I didn’t know if this status had led others to believe he was a just a passionate hobbyist – a dilettante.

"If you substitute the word amateur, in the sense that I love art and painting for their own sake, and that I have no other agenda, then I guess that may be true. I have a great need to show my work, and it is not the financial reward that I strive for, but rather, the personal satisfaction I receive from seeing my paintings and drawings in reputable public and private galleries and collections. I need to create, I need to communicate, and I need to show my art. I think all of these needs go into the making of a passionate amateur.

Almost every artist I have ever talked with has agreed that art is not something they can do, it is something they have to do, but only a few of them really know why. For Doug Erion, however, the answer was simple and direct.

"Painting nourishes my mind and my soul."

~ Christopher Cogley

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