Kilpack was born in Covent Garden in 1839. She was a shy and sensitive child who had a great aptitude for both music and drawing. Her talents as a pianist enabled her to play concerts for fees when she was only 11. In 1863 her mother died which made the family more dependent on the income from her concert playing. Around the same time she made her first visit to the Channel Islands where she carried out a number of paintings, which were exhibited at the Society of Female Artists. In 1876 her father died and Kilpack gave up the piano to paint full-time. Her work is highly distinctive, usually executed on a small scale, depicting atmospheric coastal scenes using highly-wrought oils.