October 5 - 11, 2022
◆ PASSION FOR PAINT: Jim Van Geet with his striking piece titled ‘Enigma’ at the Myrtleford Gallery. PHOTO: Belinda Harrison
Painting a picture of the subject By BELINDA HARRISON ACCORDING to multi-award winning Myrtleford artist Jim Van Geet, ‘portrait painting is the most interesting, difficult and challenging of the art genres’. “Painting someone’s portrait involves a close collaboration between the artist and the sitter and how the artist goes about expressing that person’s story through paint,” Jim explained.
“Although a large part of my art practice (now) is painting portraits and figurative works, I have also painted other subject matter. “For example, when I lived in the city I mostly painted landscapes and wildlife but when I moved to the country my art concentrated more on people. “It was a subconscious thing but my artist friends all commented on the transition.” Jim was born in Amsterdam and his family mi-
grated to Melbourne when he was 10 years old, with art seemingly always in his veins. “I won a local art prize at the age of 12, but I can’t think of a time that I wasn’t interested in art,” Jim said. “Winning that prize was a total surprise, but it spurred me on and further nurtured my love of art.” Following his schooling, Jim wanted to pursue an arts degree, but was persuaded to do an applied science degree instead.
“Everyone said ‘you can’t make a living from art’ and they are somewhat correct as it is difficult, but I never lost my passion for it.” “I painted all through my working life whenever the constraints of work and family life permitted, which meant painting mostly at night.” Jim was employed as a technical advisor for a firm of patent attorneys before switching to the building industry, where he became a senior estimator.
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