drawing praise ― kaye green

image: kaye green, a secure and calm tree surrounded by an interesting light, 2019, lithograph, 29 x 42 cm, edition of 12

Handmark Artist, Kaye Green, has made the final cut in a national drawing prize. Best known for her Japanese inspired prints, Kaye relished the chance to return to the pure art of drawing.

“I love the directness of drawing onto beautiful paper,” Kaye explains. “It is like an extension of my body as I touch the paper with my hands and rub with my fingers,” Describing drawing as her first love, Kaye has been shortlisted for Sydney’s Adelaide Perry Drawing Prize for her moody Solitary Tree with Guardian Moon.

And it seems inspiration strikes anywhere. Kaye was driving home through suburban Hobart during a brewing storm, when a lone tree – literally – stopped her in her tracks. “A blanket of dark enveloped everything, and I suddenly felt that me and that solitary tree were alone in the world. I stopped the car and madly started sketching.” A low moon hung in the sky, and Kaye felt “a deep connection to both the tree and the guardian moon” as she realised “the tree shared my feelings of nervous anticipation as the storm drew near.”

Whether she is immersed in drawing or her much loved prints, Kaye’s Japanese aesthetic never leaves her side. “My work celebrates a meditation on elements in nature – on a rock, a tree or its shadow, a hill, the moon, clouds or the wind.”