Joseph Paquet, while pursuing a Bachelor of Fine Arts at the School of Visual Arts in New York, had the good fortune of finding mentors in artists James McMullan and John Foote who opened his eyes to the joys of drawing the human figure. After graduating, Paquet met another major influence in his life, John Osborne, who was uniquely gifted artist and teacher. Osborne believed that a landscape painting should begin on location, but that its poetic essence should be completed in the solitude of the artist's studio. Paquet experienced a demanding and rewarding apprenticeship, in which he learned to fuse field studies with the image he could see in his mind's eye. Increasingly however, Paquet is creating most of his work from life, believing that the direct correspondence with nature increases the potential for greater feeling. "Intellect, he says, doesn't keep one warm at night."

He has been featured in the Washington Post Sunday Magazine, The Artist's Magazine, American Artist, Southwest Art and Plein Air Magazine. Paquet's awards include both Artist's Choice and Collector's Choice from The 2007 Laguna Beach Plein Air Invitational as well as the 2008 Alden Bryan Memorial Prize from The Salmagundi Club of New York, the First Place in Landscape from the Richeson 75: Artist's Choice Competition and The Edgar Payne Award for best Landscape at the 97th Annual Gold Medal Show at the California Art Club.

Paquet is a Emeritus Member of The Plein Air Painters of America, The Salmugundi Club and an Signature Member of The California Art Club.