Born in England, Kay grew up in South Africa before travelling extensively and ending up in Australia. Her artworks are influenced by the things she has experienced and loved in Africa and in her new home on the North Coast of Australia.
She creates works in primarily in oils, but occasionally in acrylic, wire, clay and prints. Her work is represented in collections in England, South Africa and the USA as well as Australia. Kay Knights is currently exhibiting a bold new series of artworks that share her daily experience of living on the coast at Lennox Head. "Lennox is a magical mixture of sea, sand and sunshine – often overlaid by a blanket of soft salt spray. These abstracts are my musings on the patterns found on the beach, the trees, the seaweed, foam on the beach and mysterious patterns in the sand.“
Her most recent work is mixed media that sees her bring together a recent love of monoprints with her traditional oil painting. A recent trip to the expanses of Namibia has seen a new colour palette and feeling of vastness in her works.
She still produces her flower paintings - some have been drawn into layering over symbols through the motif of moon and spectacular flowers - many of which have their own messages. Others deal with transience and change.She has been captivated by the fleeting beauty and stories of flowers for many years now - to her they represent life and the experience, as a woman, of progressing from youth through to full flower - celebrating the strength and fragility in everyone. The colours are captivating reflected off the sky in the wet sand - shapes and hues fashioned by sea and sky. This series encapsulates the simple essence of the landscape and the joy that flowers bring.