Purple Mountain

Fernando Ibañez Alcaraz was born in Alcoy, Alicante (Spain) in 1969.  Growing up with an interest for the arts, Alcaraz began his studies at the Escuela de Artes y Oficios in Alcoy at the age of 15.  For the next six years, and with the help from his mentor, Alcaraz continued to develop his artistic techniques and drawing abilities.  Throughout these years Alcaraz developed skills and interests in pastels, watercolors and pencil drawings, which has increased his flexibility as an artist.  Today, he chooses to focus his career and passions in oil painting.

Alcaraz is an artist whose talents provide him to work in various styles and mediums.  His drawing skills provide him with the roots necessary to paint portraits of figures and animals, still lifes of fruit and flowers, or landscapes from nature’s palette to his beach, Spanish village, and simple roses that grow in his garden.  Such diverse talents are found in few artists and have allowed his artistic work to be discovered not only in Spain, but other countries in Europe, and now the Americas.  

Alcaraz has participated in several collective and individual exhibitions throughout his career along with winning several awards for his inspiring canvases.  In 1985, he placed second in the IV Concurso de Careles de Fiestas de Moros y Cristianos in Ibi, Alicante; he exhibited his work at the Encuentro Mundial for the Fraternidad Hermana, in the Palace for Exhibitions and Congress of Granada in July 1992; in October 1992, he exhibited his work in a collective exposition in the Sala de Arte EMECE of Alcoy; in 1994, he participated in a collective exhibition at the Casa de la Cultura of Sollana in Valencia; and in 1996, Alcaraz participated in the Sala de Arte EMECE of Alcoy’s Grand Collection of Contemporary Teachers of Realism. 

His realistic and broad artistic skills allows him to masterfully produce detailed drawings, paintings of realistic still life and figurative studies of soft, relaxing Spanish beach and town scenes.  His application of paint layers and texture create depth, light and atmosphere, drawing the spectator into the tranquility of his subjects.