Kay McWhorter was raised in Mobile, Alabama. and was graduated from the University of Alabama. As an adult, she has lived in Decatur, Alabama, with her husband, Robert, and a series of haughty cats.

Currently, Kay uses watercolor to express her love of nature, to explore color and to search for grace of line. Although some of Kay's artwork is more realistic, most could be termed loosely representational. Described by others as intellectually strong, she joys in discovering form in lucid spontaneous application of watercolor to paper.