Featured artist : Tiffany Monk

An English Rose in Sutton

She lives in one of the tallest buildings in Sutton and therefore has one of the

prettiest views of the village. It’s the first time I’ve seen her without a cap. I barely

recognize her. She is tall, smiling, a little shy. She leads me into her studio, a room at

the back of the apartment she shares with the washer and dryer. The walls are lined with

her works, her oils, her inks and her digital drawings. I sit at her drawing board and

she at her easel. She is at the beginning of a creation. Mountains, trees are

sketched, I surprise her in full creation.

Tiffany Monk was born in Kent, a region of Great Britain. She lived there until her

twenties. Then it was University, where she studied special effects and the creation of

characters for the cinema. Committed to film, she creates props, puppets, models

and backdrops, both for cinema and theatre. She then moves on to stop-motion

animation like that of Wallace and Gromit, a monk’s job that requires patience and

precision. After a few years working as a monk that doesn’t pay very well, she

decides to go see the world and takes advantage of a working holiday visa that takes

her to Vancouver.

She finds a job there, still in the cinema, but above all has an encounter that will

change her destiny, that of her wife, a native of Joliette. Now she finds herself in

Sutton, for 4 years, in the tallest building in the village, with a magnificent view.

Tiffany has always drawn, since her earliest childhood. She is happy when she

« does » something. Today, it is oil paint that translates her inspiration, whether it is

snow landscapes or the forest that surrounds us. In her inks and her drawings of the

main street, which she traces with incredible meticulousness, all the details are there.

Her line is sure and her technique flawless. We feel the precision of the realism

that she had to learn in the creation of her backdrops. Her oils, on the other hand,

vary from clean realism to freer, more intuitive brushstrokes.

One of her influences is the American painter and illustrator Norman Rockwell. Like

him, she wanders between illustration and painting. Like him, where she excels is in

the creation of atmospheres, of the narrative emanating from her subject. Her

portraits are very evocative, her self-portrait, the portrait of her wife or that of her

father and her brother seated on a sofa, are striking. She knows how to capture the

experience, the moment. « I strive to create work that evokes the feeling of a moment,

sparking a connection with the viewer. » she writes on her website. She succeeds.

The other medium that interests her is digital art, drawing on a digital tablet. Few

artists still indulge in it, but Tiffany works there with pleasure. The versatility of this

new process holds no secrets for her.

What is fascinating about her is to see a talent unfold from work to work, from

medium to medium. The variety of subjects she paints or draws is impressive. She

can switch from portraits to landscapes with the same skill. Her birds are always

popular in group exhibitions at the Arts Sutton art center.

Tiffany Monk is not only a visual artist, she sings and plays guitar. You can also see

her in April at La Brouërie with her group The Hummingbirds. She is an artist to follow

and discover, if you have not already done so. Note that she also takes commissions.

Visit www.tiffanymonk.com to learn more.

Andrée Pelletier, translation by Geneviève Langlois-Laflamme

ARTICLE IN FRENCH: https://journalletour.com/tiffany-monk/