AN ARTIST has set about sketching socially distant portraits of his neighbours.

Nick Sayers’ project charts his street in Portslade through lockdown and he hopes to provide “a snapshot of life at this strange time”.

During the 47-year-old’s portrait sessions, people sit outside their front doors while he sketches from two metres away, often wearing a face mask.

Nick is relatively new to the area and thought the project would be an excellent way to get to know everyone who lives in Fairway Crescent.

Nick said: “Having moved from central Hove only two and a half years ago, this project has been a lovely way to get to know my neighbours during an extraordinary moment in history.

“It has also allowed me to practise my drawing skills, which have got a bit rusty since my art student days – I came to the University of Brighton in 1992. You could say it’s reviving the lost arts of drawing and conversation.”

Nick believes visual artists need to respond in some way to the enormous changes society has seen.

But on an a more intimate level, his project has allowed him to talk with a wide range of people living nearby.

His youngest sitter is eight and the oldest is 76.

“I’m getting to know my neighbours really well,” he said. “I like how the portrait sessions, which last around two hours, feel like relaxed, therapeutic encounters.

“We just sit there, talking about life, with me sketching away.

“Topics we’ve discussed have included everything from clubbing, travel and music, to neuroscience and apocalyptic fiction.

“We only talk a little about the pandemic, but this obviously colours everything else in different ways.”

Nick draws the portraits in pen on A4 cartridge art paper and gives his sitters a printed copy for a donation.

As well as offering free portraits in his street, Nick has started taking paid commissions in other neighbourhoods around Portslade and Hove. For these, he has suggested a donation of £30 to £50 for a single sitter, or £50 to £70 for couple portraits, and ten per cent of his fee will be donated to NHS Charities Together.

He said: “My usual paid work as a science-inspired artist in schools, national science events and work abroad has all but disappeared due to the pandemic.”

Nick is considering publishing the project as a book, holding an exhibition, creating a calendar or launching a website.

He also hopes to revisit his neighbours after the crisis is over for follow-up portraits at a closer one-metre distance, when they can discuss life after lockdown.

To see more of the drawings, follow @nicksayers on Instagram at http://instagram.com/explore/tags/nickdrawsneighbours.

If you live in Portslade or Hove and would like a portrait in lockdown, contact Nick on social media, email mail@nicksayers.com or call him on 07812 036415.