The Creative Process

Inspiration.

Keishia’s original hometown Revelstoke, BC is the heart of her paintings. The thick cedar forests, vast snowy mountains, and variety of wildlife in Revy is a huge inspiration for K.Treber’s work as it reminds her of many cherished memories growing up in such a wonderful scenic small town. Mount Begbie in Revelstoke is a favorite of Keishia's to paint. "If you've ever seen this mountain in person, it’s jaw dropping vast beauty is so unique with the three peaks… you can’t help but stare." Now that Keishia has been living in Kamloops, BC for almost two decades, while travelling and exploring along the way. She has found that her work has developed into featuring more sunsets, rolling hills, some west coast forest scenes, and Okanagan lake paintings. "Kamloops sunsets are so striking! With the hills being so short you can see miles of colorful textured cloudy sky, especially when compared to Revelstoke where your right in the mountain valley…the sun sets quickly there!” The monochromatic color scheme in Kamloops is also an inspiration - neutral tones mixed with warm sunset hues. “I love painting in similar color hues, it is very satisfying blending colors that flow so well together. Simple, textured, warm neutral earth tones, mixed with a pop of color is my jam in home décor."

Techniques.

Keishia's paintings are often created in layers. “I like to go back to paintings a few times on different days as each day I get a new perspective! Sometimes it needs a lot more attention and other times I take a look the next day and realize it’s done in one sitting! You can very easily over work some artworks - especially watercolors, I find.” Keishia works with professional grade acrylic, watercolors, and archival black ink on linen, canvas, paper, and wood. She often likes to leave the raw background material to show through her paintings. For example when she paints on stained wood and she will leave some of the wood exposed throughout so parts of the wood grain become part of the artwork. "Sometimes I like to do just one layer on a linen canvas, where I only paint a detailed animal or tree and leave the rest of the linen in the raw with just a clear sealer on top. I do this when I want the image to be solely appreciated, without any distraction - which is often how I personally view a lot of nature out in the wild…For instance, imagine that one unique tree or adorable animal that catches your eye and captivates you even just for a moment. I love to define and appreciate the simplicity of cropped beauty. Not to mention in terms of home décor sometimes less is more!"