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His
career as an artist started at the tender age
of three, when Juan Archuleta spent time
drawing on the enclosed porch of his
grandparents small farm in Louisiana. Juan spent
his childhood there and as far back as he can
remember he has always drawn and painted.
Later as a teenager in route on a train to his
grandparents home, Archuleta would do pencil
portraits of the people in the dining car, and
soon after he made extra money doing oil
portraits of many people around town who had
seen his previous work.
Though portraits are where the artists’ career
began, in the early 1970’s Archuleta decided to
do only landscapes, forest scenes and a few
seascapes. This transition began as a personal
journey to live the qualities he was endeavoring
to portray through his paintings. “Times of
solitude, relaxing with nature, the smells of the
earth, air on your skin, light and shadow and
sounds of the elements around us.”
In his forest scenes, Juan began to use small deer
to show the contrast of fragile and transient life
compared to large and virtually ageless trees.
Along with these majestic redwoods, Juan enjoys
painting old iron gates leading to mysterious
gardens in a series of paintings called the “Iron
and Lace Series”. The viewer is drawn into the
painting through a gate, past weathered urns
and flowering azaleas. The occasional garden
sculpture by the side of a winding path beckons
the viewer deeper into the painting. Whether
painting flora, fauna, or groves of redwoods, this
master artist blends a study of Oriental and
American painting techniques into a new kind
of impressionism creating a work of art found in
collections throughout the United States.
Juan Archuleta, a father of five currently lives in
Northern California with his wife Cindy and two
youngest children and is published exclusively
by Bentley House Fine Art Publisher of Walnut
Creek and distributed worldwide.
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