New Artist In Residence : Mary Rogers : Keyholder to the Lighthouse!

7th May 2010

It’s official! I have my own key to the Lighthouse and I have taken over the blog from Steve Allbutt. Thankyou Steve. I am the Artist In Residence for Spurn Point for the next 18 months! YES! Andy Gibson YWT warden has kindly extended the residency from a year to 18 months. Thankyou Andy! Due to a necessary ‘life quest’ I have to undertake which will distract me from my path to Spurn but I’ll be here as often as I can be. It will make me more determined to be here!
Sitting at the uppermost level of the Lighthouse...

Second trip up here today. The first time on my own. It is awe inspiring and quite overwhelming. The 360 degree view and the height gives a unique perspective and is different to anything I’ve experienced before. Being high up I can see cloud patterns and more sea! Also there’s the unusual land form of the peninsular stretching North with sea either side. And looking south west the land terminates and is surrounded by sea. Although I have been asked if I was a homing pigeon in a former life (!) I don’t actually have a compass in my head. I know that I am looking south west and north exactly because below the 360 degree glass window there are marked the points of the compass which I imagine came in handy in days before satellite navigation for obvious reasons. It’ll come in handy for me as I will be able to observe the rising sun shifting along the horizon over the coming months. And I will have a sunset over Grimsby – my home town!Now I’m up here I think my initial impulse to focus on the sunrise was a good one because there is so much sky and so much sea one could become dizzy with it! It’s not only a circular view but above your head and below your feet could send you crazy with confusion as where to paint and where to start. It will take the pressure off as I’ll have two blasts of intense working periods at start and end of the day and then a lighter freer time to observe and perhaps do longer observational studies such as the shape of the headland or little quick studies like the patterns of the tide on the shore or birds flying, figures walking along the beach, the ships waiting to enter the river and I may even venture outside the safety of my glass bubble!
It’s very strange though I have noticed the tide is coming in on the sea – side of the peninsular but going out on the river - side.

What is embarrassing though is that until I came up to the lighthouse for the first time this morning I was certain there was a light in this lighthouse, that it was still operational. Mmmmm. Didn’t admit it to Andy though. He has quite a ‘particular’ sense of humour and wouldn’t have let that one rest.

Can’t wait to get started!

I am so lucky to get this opportunity.

Post Script: My observational skills must be rusty. Rest assured the sea is going out on both sides of the peninsular. Mmmmm!

The plan is to set up a studio here at the lighthouse. This will be my base for working during the residency. There really is no place on this little planet I would rather be at this stage in my life! Ahhhhh the Lighthouse at Spurn Point.