Doug Gilbert was born and raised in Manhattan and Queens in New York City. He graduated from Hoftstra University with a BA in Fine Arts - Painting, where he took classes with Perle Fine and Howard Buckwald. Needing to support his wife and daughter after graduating, he found employment as a drummer in rock bands, a technical illustrator for major textbook publishers, authors, and magazines, and then as a computer support specialist and programmer, all the while producing an evolving body of paintings and drawings and periodically showing the work. He has two grown children and currently lives with his wife and maintains studios in Stroudsburg, Pennsylvania and Melbourne, Florida.