Juan started Colors on Glass in Juárez where he was living at the time. He began using paints and plastics on glass for different types of textures, similar to both murals and stained glass, and found the different textures and finishes provided various levels of privacy and transparency while allowing Juan to work with intricate designs. What started as a hobby in a small room in the home of his parents, Juan and Hortensia Rodriguez, grew. After several room expansions and three years of working in Juárez, Juan chose to move. Eventually he relocated his business to El Paso, where he now has a showroom on Yandell Street.

“It all happened by accident,” Juan says. “By mixing different plastics I discovered another finish.”

When Juan started painting, he never considered himself an artist, but he did enjoy writing songs and recording music. The closest he ever came to painting was watching his grandfather draw. Now, Juan paints intricate designs on his glass overlay pieces with a special paint he created (and is trying to patent).

“This is a unique form of expressing your own inspiration,” Juan says. “Anything can be designed then painted.”

Juan has placed commissioned work in Thomason Hospital and the Cristo Rey Church, but many of his pieces are found in private homes, both indoors and out. Juan works on roughly 200 pieces a year, ranging from large to small with intricate and simple designs. One piece, a skylight 16-feet in diameter with a 12-inch face all the way around it, took him a month to complete.

Glass overlay painting is an alternative to stained glass, and allows much more freedom for Juan to incorporate details in his work. The cost is typically about 75% more economical than leaded glass.

Juan is married to Hilda and the couple has one daughter, Jessica Dubrule, as well as two granddaughters and a grandson. At his showroom, Juan also has a recording studio, a carpentry shop and he works on sandblast projects as well as the glass overlay paintings.

“Once you have something in your mind, you do what you have to do to make it work,” Juan says. “That is part of the magic we do have as human beings.”