Kip Combes was born in Great Yarmouth and studied at the Great Yarmouth College of Art. He served in the Royal Air Force during World War II, training as a pilot in the U.S. for two years.

In 1970, due to popular demand, Combes began to specialise in watercolours. His evocative, dramatic landscapes and seascapes reflect his lifelong love of the British countryside and the watercolour tradition of Turner, Constable and Norwich School of Painters. He now produces oil paintings as well.

Combes has exhibited throughout Britain and has works in private collections in the U.K., U.S., Australia, South Africa and Germany.

From 1992 to 1994, he was president of the Worksop Society of Artists and received the group's Henery Spencer award and Phyllis Bell prize for outstanding painting.