John Encinias was born in New Mexico near Santa Fe and currently resides in Denver, Colorado. At an early age, he started drawing and painting, and in 1975 began his career as a full-time professional artist. Although influenced by many great artists from the past, his main inspiration has been observing and painting from nature.
He has been in numerous national exhibitions, including the National Academy of Western Art/Prix de West since 1984. Encinias had solo exhibitions at the Frye Museum in Seattle, Washington, in 1991 and the Birger Sandzén Memorial Gallery in Lindsborg, Kansas, in 2000. Most recently, his work was included in a book titled Painted Landscapes – Contemporary Views by Lauren Della Monica.
“After all these years, I’m still painting my surroundings,” Encinias says of his current work, “and seem to be painting nature with a fresh outlook and seeing more of the abstract qualities in nature.”
