Julie Schneider Ljubenkov is a native southern Californian. She grew up in the Whittier area of Los Angeles County and received her Bachelors degree in Art and a Masters of Fine Art in Drawing and Painting from California State University Long Beach. She credits living in the big city and family camping trips to the Redwoods in Northern California as a child as what influenced her to become a naturalist, and a painter of the native flora and fauna of California.

Her most recent series of watercolors focus on the San Diego North County back country. These watercolors feature sweeping landscapes of the ancestral homeland of the Luiseño Indians which includes the entire watershed of the San Luis Rey River and the Palomar Mountain Region. Rich with culture, these areas are still home to the native plants and animals, and the Native American Indians that have lived here for thousands of years.

Also a naturalist, Julie Schneider Ljubenkov resides with her biologist husband in a beautiful wooded mountain valley halfway up Mt. Palomar. Called Dancing Coyote Ranch, this idyllic setting serves as her art studio both indoors and out. It is also the site of on-going art classes, and nature study workshops where participants can draw, or paint, or just contemplate wildflowers and breathtaking mountain views. Julie and her husband also conduct specialized eco-tours in San Diego County's back country to Anza Borrego Desert State Park, Cleveland National Forest, and Palomar Mountain.

We are very proud to present the fine art of
Julie Schneider-Ljubenkov in our FEATURE EXHIBITS section.