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Douglas started his training at the University of B.C., where he received an Arts/Sciences degree in 1969. He thereafter explored the techniques of watercolour, pen and ink, and charcoal. He first began experimenting with soapstone carving in 1975, and later worked with wood, clay, bronze, and iron. His love of stone began when he built a huge stone fireplace in his log home in Salmon Arm, B.C.
In 1981 he returned to U.B.C. to study Industrial Arts teaching, taking courses in design, drafting, woodwork, metalwork, and sculpture. This was followed with a period of primarily doing ornamental ironwork and metal sculpture. In 2002 he returned to stone carving, and continues with it today.
He works out of his studio at home in the Cowichan Valley on Vancouver Island now. He uses the native serpentine and marble, as well as soapstone, alabaster, Picasso marble and pyrophyllite from Brazil. He likes to continually try new and exotic stones. The pieces range in size from 2 lbs. to 400 lbs. His creations are primarily abstract, and heavily influenced by the nature that surrounds him; the mountains, lakes, forests, and ocean. The pieces are both organic and primordial in look and feel, reflecting plant and animal motifs, with influences from the earth, air, and water. He generally lets the stone, with its initial shape, dictate the design which will follow. This invariably results in a true personification of consistent patterns repeated throughout nature. Using this flow of energy, and incorporating accents of his own personalty, the results are both alive, and uniquely individualistic. As he works, the designs seem to jump out on their own, as though already existing in the stone, and just needing to be released. He also does figurative pieces, usually working from a good photo.