Lower Sixth Student, Dhanesh Jegatheesan, writes about his experiences of life drawing masterclass and the School’s new Portraiture Club

Being able to be a part of a life drawing class in school was very beneficial, in a sense that I have gained a lot of experience and crucial skills when it comes to proportionality and details. We endured many challenges that pushed us to our potential and using these new techniques, I am able to incorporate them within my A-Level sketchbook. I also tend to take my time when creating pieces of work, but the short five- to 20-minute poses made us sketch at a fast and consistent pace, which is important when doing any observational drawings.

I also wanted to be more involved within the Art Department, so I decided to take up the Portraiture Club. We had the pleasure of being taught by Mr Brown, who is the new art technician and an unbelievable hyper-realistic painter. Having past experience with oil painting I was quite familiar with the general process, but Mr Brown has opened my eyes to new techniques and key skills needed to perfect painting. For example, I was able to paint on MDF (compressed sawdust) which has a smooth surface and a completely different effect on the brush strokes and oil paint, compared to canvas which I have been using before. I have also been painting portraits in black and white before, since creating shadows and highlights have been easier to do, but I was encouraged to step out of my comfort zone and paint in colour this time.

I have created a portrait I wouldn’t have though I could ever have created, but with the help of Mr Brown, I felt like I could paint anything.