Doug Brega is a realist known for his realistic, evocative portraits and renderings of New England houses, sailboats and weather beaten barns. He paints not only what appears to his eye but also what he sees as a reality beneath the common one. For Brega the goal is more than an impressive accretion of detail: it is a glimpse of the true structure and character of his subject, whether it is a person or a building.

Brega was born on Christmas day, 1948, in Springfield, Massachusetts and grew up in the neighboring town of East Longmeadow. His principal art studies took place at the Paier School of Art in New Haven, Connecticut under trompe l'oeil artist Ken Davies, who became his most important teacher a...