Geoff Beggs

I am a Melbourne-based artist working in oils. I studied tonal realism under Angela Abbott at Montsalvat for six wonderful years from 2021 to 2026.

I had no lifelong association with art. Quite the opposite. I convinced myself I could not draw (seen as a mystical talent that some are born with and others, sadly, not). I certainly could not paint, a point my art teacher at the start of my high school years made clear, if not in so many words.

So I threw myself into work, family, and community, barely blinking until all of a sudden I was in my sixties, staring retirement in the face. While happy with my 'legacy' in those fields, there seemed to be little expression of simply me.

On a whim I decided to paint some pictures, bought an easel, some canvases and some paints. To my surprise, something had moved in those decades and while my efforts were not good, they were at the same time not terrible. After two to three years of amateurish but recognisable pieces I decided to take lessons.

This was, of course, my personal turning point. In 2021 I started painting with Angela Abbott at Montsalvat. As an award-winning artist (and sometime member of the Twenty Melbourne Painters Society), she introduced me to the world of tonal realism, the importance of form (“getting the plumbing right”), tone and colour. She honed in me the desire (and an increasing capacity) to just "see". To paint what is actually there, rather than describe objects already ‘known’ in my own head.

I was gobsmacked the first time I fully took this advice, putting in daubs here and there based only on the colours, form, tonal value and edges that were in front of me. I looked away then looked back at my seemingly unrelated daubs and the entire picture jumped out at me. It was almost magic.

There's nothing like painting pictures to make you want to see the art of others. I began to haunt art galleries over the world, revelling in the rich history and exciting art movements of the last millennia. I talk about some of my reactions to these great works of art on my YouTube channel: Art Meets Geoff.

I also developed an appreciation for the art of local artists, and began spending time at places like VAS just to see those artworks, which inspire me in my own work.

At Angela's suggestion I joined VAS in 2026.