A native of Scotland, artist Julie Snyder studied drawing and painting at the Glasgow School of Art. The setting itself was extraordinary and inspiring. Architect Charles Rennie Macintosh designed the Art School in 1897, combining his unique style of Scottish tradition with Art Nouveau. Julie Snyder was encouraged to pursue her art by an artist-mother and a writer-father.

Julie’s artistic career has spanned both sides of the Atlantic and included several years of residence in Southern Spain. Julie Snyder forged her craft as an illustrator in advertising, publishing and the motion picture industry, including Warner Bros.

She now lives in Southern California, where she paints, holds workshops and teaches painting at the Businessmen’s Art Institute in Montrose. Julie Snyder is a sought-after artist in the Southern California figurative art scene. “I paint the figure, finding my subjects in many walks of life and I bring them into the studio to model. I love to recreate an impressionistic environment on the canvas that tells a story.”

She paints to tell the stories of everyday people in their environment. Painting wet on wet with a balance of loose and tight brush work, she uses color and light to create interest and focus. Her paint quality is expressionistic as she captures the essential mood and gestures of her subjects. Julie Snyder also has a growing number of clients who commission her to paint portraits. Her intimate portraits are more than the traditional “head and shoulders” as she unerringly finds the special quality that makes each individual both unique and multifaceted.

Julie Snyder also finds time to promote the arts: She served for two years as president of the historic Businessmen's Art Institute of Los Angeles.

Artist's Statement:
Painting is my path to a world where entire stories can be told through a captured moment in time.

My journey as a painter began at Scotland’s foremost Glasgow School of Art, an extraordinary and inspiring artistic environment. After a few years, I spread my wings and traveled throughout Europe, finally settling in the Balearic Islands located off the coast of Spain. I arrived in the U.S. in 1984 and spent the next decade working in several artistic fields before turning to fine art.

To me, painting is much like poetry, an illusion and a vision. Instead of words, I use the brush to capture the essential fragments and facets of an intimate communication between the viewer and the subject.

My palettes are uniquely combined for each painting to create a harmony of colors that transcend real life. I love the moment when chaos and order dance with each other on the canvas – tight and loose brushwork, what’s deliberate and what almost paints itself.

There is a timelessness that I bring to my work that allows me to easily transform the images of everyday life into a new reality. I am the passionate and joyful creator of these compositions that come back to live in the real world.

Achievements

• Brand Art Library, Open Studio Tour Show, Glendale, July 2007
• California Theatrical Youth Ballet, La Canada, CA. Solo Show: June-July 2007
• Valley Artists’ Guild, December 2006: Guest Demonstrating Artist
• Brand Art Library, Glendale, Glendale Group show, 2006
• Glendale Artists Studio Tour, 2006
• Invitational Music and Art in the Park, Quick Draw and exhibit, Glendale CA, 2006
• Artist Magazine, Finalist, Convention Center, Pasadena CA 2005
• Invitational “Jardins en Plein Air” 2005, White’s Gallery, Montrose, CA
• Brand Art Library, Glendale, Glendale Group show, 2005
• California Art Club Show: Ebell Club Los Angeles, CA 2004
• Colony Theatre, Burbank, CA: Solo Show 2004
• Women's City Club of Pasadena, Pasadena, CA. Nov. 2003-Apr. 2004: California Art
• Club Patron Painters Group Show: "Artists' Choice"
• Montrose Verdugo Hills Juried Show 2003: 2nd Place
• Businessmen’s Art Institiute Salon 2002: 2nd Place Portrait/Figure.
• Businessmen's Art Institute Salon-2000: First Place Portrait/Figure.