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Text of article by Bethany Caskey featuring Doug that ran in Rural Heritage Magazine, August/September 2012 :


A career as a fine artist came later in life for North Carolina native Doug Strickland. Born in the small town of Benson, N.C., he graduated from the University of North Carolina with a degree in Industrial Relations and worked for many years as a clinical social worker in a mental health facility while painting and drawing as a hobby. Strickland's father, the son of a farmer, was the manager of a shirt factory and a machinist. Strickland credits his father for his need for precision in his work. His mother, who encouraged Doug's interest, was the daughter of a sharecropper. Strickland spent his summers working on farms and found a love of rural imagery, though his career ultimately took him away from the farmer's life. Since childhood, the visual arts, and the natural beauty of people, places and scenes around him have always inspired Doug. He started very...