After starting to study to become an architect, Douglas quickly realised this was not for him and transitioned into a course at Hammersmith Art School to gain a diploma in Art and Design (Dip AD) whilst he gained practical experience working in the London Architect's Department of Barclays Bank. During this time, he dabbled in painting and other craft activities with this becoming a common theme throughout his career. His working life saw him hold various positions at a number of companies, all with a strong design element. Travel played an essential role, with work taking him to the four corners of the world to oversee the construction of exhibition stands at trade and world trade fairs, interiors of hotels, furniture and accessories at the premier Milan Furniture Fair, as well as numerous restaurants, bars, night clubs and public houses, the most unusual and fascinating being a hotel interior in Yemen. While at Heals of Tottenham Court Road, Douglas was head-hunted to become the managing director of a new venture - The Cider Press Centre in Dartington, which would go onto become the pre-eminent craft centre in the south-west during his tenure 1978-1984. Following this, he returned to London from 1984-1990 to work alongside his brother to run an arm of his brother's design and build company. But the lure of Devon and his children brought him back to the county and for some years he worked for Torbay council setting up Cockington Court Craft Centre. In 2000 Douglas decided to take early retirement and he and his new partner designed and built their own mini grand design overlooking the Exe estuary in Ashcombe. The pair subsequently moved to Exeter in 2010, where Douglas took up painting once more, some 50 years after he last painted for pleasure. "I have always been interested in modern abstract painters, contemporary architecture and cutting-edge design. I can now relax and enjoy painting at a pace that suits me in later-life. I never have a specific theme, more a germ of an idea. I just enjoy experimenting with the paint moving across the canvas creating patterns and shapes and I often overpaint until I am happy with the outcome. I nearly always paint in the abstract form with the occasional rigid lines of geometric shapes." "Many painters have had a bearing and influence on my work, but primarily Gerhard Richter, Kazamir Malevich and Richard Diebenkorn."