Nomyayi, portrait artist at the V&A Waterfront

I am a solo artist. There is no studio, no assistant and no gallery: just an easel, a stool and a board of finished portraits on the quayside at the V&A Waterfront, where I have drawn people from all over the world for 10 years.

I started busking because it is the most honest way to learn portraiture. On the quay there is wind, changing light, a sitter who has a boat to catch and a small crowd watching over your shoulder. You learn to find the likeness in the first three minutes, because there is nowhere to hide if you do not.

Between Waterfront days I draw commissions from photographs at home: gifts, memorials, pets, and the more detailed pieces that a live sitting does not allow. Those are shipped tracked and insured to wherever the sitter went home to.

Materials

Every drawing, live or commissioned, is on acid-free paper with lightfast graphite, charcoal or coloured pencil, and sealed with fixative before it leaves my hands. Live sittings are packed flat in a rigid sleeve so they survive the flight home.

Come and say hello

The easel is out most weeks, weather permitting. Days, hours and where to find me, or see recent portraits.