About the Artist

Kala Combrink is a South African plein air artist working mainly in oils.

She was born in Namibia and grew up in South Africa. She worked in the IT industry in Bloemfontein and Pretoria. During this time she attended porcelain painting classes with Heleen van Assen for 10 years, laying the foundation for drawing, composition and floral design.

In 2008 she moved to George and pursued oil painting full time. She took art workshops with artists she admired: Martie le Roux, Dale Elliot, and Patrick Fouilhoux, among others. This was supplemented by four years of study through the Virtual Art Academy. The course included many plein air projects and outdoor painting became a passion.

To capture a fleeting moment in time, transporting the viewer to a specific place and time, this is the challenge she adores. There is an immediacy, freshness and honesty in these outdoor paintings that cannot be replicated in the studio.

As a member of SANAVA Kala visited Paris for a two-month residency at the Cite Internationale des Arts in 2015, 2018 and 2025. She regularly painted outdoors, capturing the light and mood of Paris, The City of Light. She draws inspiration from everyday life, painting mainly seascapes, florals and street scenes from life.

Kala exhibits regularly with local artists in George and surrounds.

In 2016 she won 1st prize in the SCAVA open competition with an abstract seascape followed by a Still Life 1st Prize in 2017 and a Portrait 1st Prize in 2024. Her work is in private collections in the USA, Switzerland, Norway, Canada, and South Africa.

She lives in the Garden Route with her husband Japie and son Jake and can regularly be seen painting on the beach along the magnificent Garden Route coastline.