Simon Combes

Simon Combes Biography:
Simon Combes was born in Shaftesbury, England, in 1940 and, at the age of six, moved with his family to an 800-acre farm in Kenya's Great Rift Valley. At the age of 18, he took a job in western Kenya, managing a 2,000-acre farm with about 150 employees. The following year he was drafted, serving in the Kenya regiment. He then applied for and received a commission in the King's African Rifles. Combes' subsequent adventures included fighting in a guerrilla war with Somalia, leading Kenya's new airborne unit (requiring a visit to Parachute School in England) and promotion to major at the tender age of 24. Of greater significance, perhaps, was the start of a new hobby. During moments of inactivity in the northern desert, Simon began to draw, and eventually paint art, prints and posters of the local nomadic people and the landscape in which they lived.  >>click here for more