Haystack

Tif Choate is an award winning American artist. She was born in the 70s, a descendant of immigrants from Scotland & Ireland, and grew up in the conservative suburbs of St. Louis, MO. Early in life, she knew she was an artist. She grew up with an overactive imagination and produced a constant flow of imaginative projects, inventions, and art projects, painting on public town windows as early as age 8. St. Louis has a large, free-art museum, and many art culture experiences. Tif had many opportunities to study and fall in love with the beauty of art.

Tif has lived in communities all across the US and currently lives in Lafayette, Colorado. She graduated with a degree in Advertising, Illustration, and Design from the Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale, FL, in the 90s, the dawn of the computer graphic art industry. For more than a decade, Tif worked in the corporate world, with newspaper syndicates, magazines, and advertising agencies, primarily on computers doing digital design. Although she excelled in the industry, at one point managing the art production of a syndicate of five newspapers in Grand County, CO, her naturally creative proclivities were put on hold and fine art creation was in a state of comatose.

“Tif, can you paint art? I need a mural”, someone asked in the early 2000s. Her true identity was awakened. Her first mural was commissioned and feverishly painted with enthusiasm. Then another one. Shortly after, she left the corporate world and returned to working with her hands to create. Tif loves to paint large canvases and wall murals in a colorful expressive style for which she’s known today. Her paintings are full of mesmerizing colors complementing her subjects in imaginative yet relatable ways. Primarily her mediums are acrylic paint on canvas and wood, watercolors and latex paint on walls. You can find her public art all over the front range of Colorado.

In 2017, seeing her two sons graduate high school and head out to towards adulthood, Tif started her business, dedicating her heart and soul to the success of her company, Snail Candy Art Studio. Combining her artistic passion and graphic design skills, her business is growing steadily in success. Working as an artist takes a lot of faith. Tif is completely dedicated to her craft, and she trusts God to make it all work together for good. Her work pulses with bold, full color, urging the eye to see the natural and perceived rhythms and beauty all around. She loves to paint animals with mesmerizing eyes and is addicted to phantasmagorical color combinations. Tif feels blessed that her work not only gives her great joy to do but lets others connect with positive, joyful emotions that come from experiencing and owning art. She believes that being exposed to art is a necessary part of a person’s well being, peace and enrichment.