On his arrival, Sebastian set about meeting local people and exploring the surrounding landscape. His paintings, drawings and photographs often attempted to capture the wide, open expanses of moorland, the vast skies, the shifting light, and the intensity of darkness at night. Reflecting on the contrast with his previous life in East London, he wrote:

“I found sanity; in the community, in the area and in the landscape which seems empty at first. Living and working in Tarset you are surrounded by the full force of nature in its contrasting conditions. It can be peaceful or ferocious depending on the wind. You can see forever and in a moment be lost again.”

As he settled in, Sebastian’s work increasingly revolved around local people, their stories, and the places most meaningful to them. He drew portraits of neighbours and friends, and developed a distinctive body of work he called narrative ‘cartoons’—photographs overlaid with drawn lines. These playful yet considered pieces captured scenes from everyday rural life: the feeding of livestock, or the comic mishap of coal being delivered into the wrong bunker. The drawn marks emphasised humour, gesture and storytelling, while also highlighting the grace and economy of repeated daily movements. Simple tasks, such as spreading bedding for animals, became reimagined as acts of rhythm and beauty.

Sebastian’s residency also extended outward into community-based projects. Over several months, he worked with Iranian asylum seekers who gathered regularly at Wallsend People’s Centre. The project explored ideas of portraiture and identity, and how people see themselves in relation to their environment. A group of families travelled to Highgreen for an intensive workshop day, creating montage portraits of themselves within the Tarset landscape. The resulting work was later shown at Wallsend, alongside portraits by Sebastian, and the group returned in summer to join the celebrations for his final exhibition at Highgreen.

In January 2005, Sebastian led two one-day intensive drawing workshops at Highgreen, attended by local residents. These sessions, like his wider practice, combined portraiture, storytelling and a lively sense of observation, reflecting both the artist’s engagement with people and the strong connections he forged during his time in Tarset.