Wirral born and bred artist Elizabeth Monks, BA (Hons) Fine Art, graduated from Liverpool John Moore’s University in 2008 and is now has residency at Royden Park where she specialises in landscape painting and print work and also hosts biannual exhibitions.

​

“Art has always been part of my life, my Dad was an Artist and sign writer. As a family we all had an adventures life: long holidays travelling through France and Spain, walking up mountainous paths up to small villages that could not be approached by a vehicle; walking over snake skins; swimming in deep mountainous ravines; encountering the views of the pioneers from a cable car; reaching the top of the mountain and coming face to face with the wild horses; looking over the mountain and seeing the clouds below. In the campsite site below we were once swept by a flood and slept the night in very cold conditions and at one time both watching both the rainfall wash tents away as it cascaded down the terraces. And my dad holding on to the pole of the tent so it didn't blow away - we could have just abandoned the tent and got into the car. My childhood was truly adventurous: mountains to sunny beaches and I fully experienced first-hand the elements of the landscape.  

​

With interest sparked at a young age I would endlessly watch my Dad, we would sketch on location in the countryside but whereas my Dad would centre his art on landmarks I would question the unnoticed landscape, from hedgerows to the decay of the rotten tree stump where insects live, the land beneath our feet. My own style and exploration into landscape painting took off when I studied the elements of my degree withmy painting and printing still in full exploration: from the literal to the abstract, allowing the paint to breathe its own landscape.