Oliver Akers Douglas

Born in 1973, Oliver Akers Douglas is an artist best known for his dramatic interpretations of the British landscape - a reputation that has made him one of the most collectable living artists working today.

Oliver's paintings are bold, distinctive and vividly convey the idea of place. He spends a great deal of time searching for the scenes that convey a dynamism and beauty that appeal to him. His work is rooted in direct experience and is predominantly executed en plein aire. In a short film available to see above, you can see his practice of working from a Land Rover with an easel welded to the side.

Many of the pictures painted in this way depict the chalk downland near to his home in south Wiltshire with its steep-sided valleys and billowing cloudscapes. However, Oliver often travels further afield to the wilder coasts of west Scotland and Connemara to search for painting locations - particularly to Iona in the Hebrides with its white sands and iridescent waters. Increasingly, in recent years, Oliver has also painted in the Swiss Alps where he hikes and skis to painting locations. Wherever his work is conducted it is more than mere depiction - his response to landscape is emotionally driven and charged with a strong Romantic spirit.

His paintings are unapologetically colourist, the paint dynamic and textured in effect. Using both brushes and palette knives, his mark-making is distinctively his, the surface of the pictures being themselves enticing landscapes of pure pigment.

While briefly attending Camberwell Art ... show more

Born in 1973, Oliver Akers Douglas is an artist best known for his dramatic interpretations of the British landscape - a reputation that has made him one of the most collectable living artists working today.

Oliver's paintings are bold, distinctive and vividly convey the idea of place. He spends a great deal of time searching for the scenes that convey a dynamism and beauty that appeal to him. His work is rooted in direct experience and is predominantly executed en plein aire. In a short film available to see above, you can see his practice of working from a Land Rover with an easel welded to the side.

Many of the pictures painted in this way depict the chalk downland near to his home in south Wiltshire with its steep-sided valleys and billowing cloudscapes. However, Oliver often travels further afield to the wilder coasts of west Scotland and Connemara to search for painting locations - particularly to Iona in the Hebrides with its white sands and iridescent waters. Increasingly, in recent years, Oliver has also painted in the Swiss Alps where he hikes and skis to painting locations. Wherever his work is conducted it is more than mere depiction - his response to landscape is emotionally driven and charged with a strong Romantic spirit.

His paintings are unapologetically colourist, the paint dynamic and textured in effect. Using both brushes and palette knives, his mark-making is distinctively his, the surface of the pictures being themselves enticing landscapes of pure pigment.

While briefly attending Camberwell Art

College, Oliver is largely self taught as an artist. He graduated in 1997 with a first class degree in English Literature from Edinburgh University, initially working as a journalist and writer before settling as an artist. Since then he has had several one man shows in London, his work being followed by a loyal audience, and found in both public and private collections worldwide. He has also worked extensively as a commissioned landscape artist, most notably for HM Charles III who he has accompanied on a Royal tour to the Balkans in 2017.