11 May 2022
After running a successful workshop entitled Painting with the Limited Palette, Rob Pretorius embarked on a part-time residency at Abingdon School in January 2022, offering students the opportunity to work alongside a trained painter and draftsperson, and providing ongoing technical mentoring during lesson-time – particularly in core skills like drawing and colour mixing. Rob trained in portraiture and figure painting at Sarum Studio between 2015-2018, an independent atelier of fine art in Salisbury, under the tutelage of Nicholas Beer. He learned to paint and draw according to a tradition that has passed down through generations, and is commonly known as the “sight-size” method.
Since graduating, Rob has adapted his training to suit his ambitions, though he still works in oils and charcoal, and continues to take the human figure as his central focus across a variety of genres. Rob is based in the sixth form studio, and can be seen working up his many sketches and studies as part of the lengthy process required to realise a final figure composition as oil on canvas. The procedure provides the students an invaluable glimpse of a creative process that runs in parallel to their own sketchbook development and visual problem solving.
