Born in Winnipeg, Kandice Keith is a contemporary painter based in Roberts Creek on the Sunshine Coast. She is best known for her landscapes and portraits of native British Columbia wildlife.

Keith spent much of her childhood at her Belair cabin exploring the forest and illustrating stories about animals and local wildlife. Her reverence for the natural environment remains the foundation of her work.

ARTIST STATEMENT

The natural world serves as inspiration for Kandice Keith’s painting practice. Cherished childhood memories of the wilderness at her family cottage in Manitoba and the vast expanses of prairie grasses and skies inform her work just as much as the lush, beautiful rainforests, bears and birds and of the West Coast. Keith’s charming and adventurous creatures evoke whimsy and wonder, whilst her landscapes offer the viewer a quiet moment of pause.

Time is a precious commodity, in her work Keith uses concentrated time segments, typically under an hour in length. This way of working grew out of a need to be as efficient as possible with the time that was available to her. In these bursts, she works on multiple paintings one after the other, applying layers and building up depth. This process has proven highly productive for the artist who has maintained a full-time practice since 2013.

Keith’s playful brushstrokes are connected to the present and also to the past, referencing the history of painting. Stylistic similarities to Van Gogh’s vibrant colour palate and his impressionistic brushwork are present in Keith’s work. Her paintings allow viewers to discover and connect to precious moments of pause amongst creatures in the wild. Moving us out of our everyday lives, Keith moves us into a land of wonder as she creates magical sparks -shiny glimmers of life found in the eyes of the wild fauna she paints. We are offered a glimpse into a natural world which we often find we are often lacking or standing outside of. Just as Emily Carr and Lawren Harris translated their fondness of wilderness into memorable and inspired paintings, Keith’s landscapes display her deep appreciation of nature. Keith works in acrylics and uses gel medium. These both provide a vibrant and shiny top coat, much akin to a resin surface. The rainy reflective qualities of the Westcoast are well represented within this glossy finish.

The aspect of time is also a fluid entity that can be stretched out and slowed in Keith’s work. Her landscapes and florals do just that, they slow things down, sharing the passage of time with the viewer; blossoms in full bloom sing their swan song before petals drop, trees present the turning of the seasons with their colourful ever-changing foliage and the gentle fall of snow cover. Keith’s work also can, like the crack of a whip, snap the viewer into a single and frozen vulnerable moment of introspection. The powerful gaze of the animals that Keith paints present an intimate moment of discovery. Keith’s birds, does and bears are often painted looking straight ahead, directly toward the viewer. It is as though animal and viewer are seeing each viewer for the first time. Keith’s openly curious characters offer us an opportunity to go inwards, viewers of the work are welcomed to connect to nature, and to also better connect to themselves.

https://kandicekeith.ca