douglas brent smith

If you keep working your craft you will be amazed at how much you've learned and how much more there is yet to learn. -- doug smith  

  Back Inner Cover of Journal #33, Life In Progress, by Douglas Brent Smith, A collage that's not exactly a typical collage. It's what I often do with the back inner covers of my journals -- simply randomly put stickers, stamps, name tags, and other sticky objects. 

  Gears of Joy, collage by Douglas Brent Smith This is page 305 of Journal #33, Life in Progress. 

  Density by Douglas Brent Smith

  She Could Juggle Anything, sketch by Douglas Brent Smith, from Journal #34, Mission Control.  Juggling is dancing. Objects join in the dance. Sometimes you control those objects, sometimes those objects appear to control you. The illusion is part of the fun.

  Bugs In The System, collage, mixed media by Douglas Brent Smith

  Wild Towers -- collage by Douglas Brent Smith Notes: In the lower right corner is one of my favorite photos -- my brother Dave and me at Grandmom and Grandpop Rogers' house. If you look closely you can see Grandpop Rogers sitting in his chair. He was probably reading the newspaper, the Bridgeton Evening News. It was a great newspaper in those days and Grandpop read it front to back every night. There are more clear versions of this picture, probably even in other collages because I love it so much. Those were wonderful days and I miss my little brother so much. 

  All At Once with Trap Doors, mixed media by Douglas Brent Smith

 Charged and Ready -- sketch by Douglas Brent Smith Notes: This sketch was a bit light so I did go over it again with a marker on 23 May, 2026 but it is truly from 1 December 1998. If that seems like a long time ago to you, we agree on that.

  Inspiration Station -- sketch by Douglas Brent Smith, 1998 What if you drew a picture while you were watching "Outer Limits" and "The Twilight Zone"? I don't remember if that was what was going on (probably not) but those are two of my favorite shows ever (in all of their iterations) so think of this as inspired by a UHF smoothie turning channel knob.

Echoes In The Hall - collage by Douglas Brent Smith Was it a drip? or a step it was many steps inching, creeping, closer music bouncing in the background  sad, acoustic strums a tenor voice another, mezzo, soprano, twins unseen gently heard bespoke beyond a wandering bird  

 Page 309 from Journal #33, Douglas Brent Smith

  New Ocean -- sketch by Douglas Brent Smith, 1999, from Journal #33, Life In Progress. 

The less we make our world look like a casino the better off we'll be. -- Doug smith Notes: Just for fun, I added this collage. It is not a casino.   

  Do The Math -- pencil sketch by Douglas Brent Smith, 20 October, 1999.  Is it odd that I don't usually draw in pencil? There is so much more opportunity to make changes in pencil, both additions and subtractions. Somehow, though, ink has usually been my choice. I think it might have something to do with contrast. For this rendering I increased the contrast in the file and saturation to bring the drawing out more. I also did what I could to minimize the notebook lines, even covering over the holes and cropping beyond the wire binding.  I'm not sure what my head was thinking at the time -- we were shopping for a car to replace the Chevy Cavalier that "drowned" in a storm. 

  The Mysteries of Love -- painting by Douglas Brent Smith, acrylic, 14 x 18, painted at 2065 Pennington Road, Ewing Township, NJ, not dated.

  The Towers of Vettunder - painting by Douglas Brent Smith, acrylic. This one feels like another cover to a science fiction novel. In the 70's I might have tried to write that book. Maybe it's not too late. 

  The Insecure Plumber -- painting by Douglas Brent Smith, acrylic, 16 x 20, December 1976. As I photo these paintings the change in the light delights me. So much depends on how you look at things, how long you look at things, in what light, in what mood...it brings art even more alive. I didn't say it was good art, just delightful art. Only you can decide if it's good (to you). I have not painted like this in years. Perhaps someday I will again.

One More Cosmic Landscape -- painting by Douglas Brent Smith, acrylic, 12 x 16, December 1973. Here are two previous views of the same painting, photos that are at an angle. Discards, sure, but also interesting:   One More Cosmic Landscape -- painting by Douglas Brent Smith, acrylic, 12 x 16, December 1973. Here's a cropped photo of the same painting. I couldn't figure out how to rotate it but I like seeing it at this angle. 

  With Every Available Device -- painting by Douglas Brent Smith, December 1976. This is another of the series of acrylic paintings that I did in Oak Lawn, IL, living with Mom and Jack for a brief few months. My favorite art movement is surrealism, and this one clearly emulates the work of the surrealists, in particular Yves Tanguy .  When I moved from Colorado to Newtown in 2016 I threw away a number of my paintings, many from this period of time. I did not like them enough to keep them, I guess although I feel some regret at heaving them, one can't save everything and I live in an apartment that's about 600 square feet. No real storage room. This one survived the cut.