Up until the late summer of 2019, the West Pier Lighthouse was occasionally open to the public and £1.50 bought you the greatest, breathtaking panoramic views of Whitby you could wish for when you reached the top. However, passing others on the steep, narrow spiralling stone steps when ascending or descending could at times prove to be a bit of a squeeze!

I gathered plenty of my own photographic reference of the interior and exterior of the structure during those visits as well as making notes of the lantern section and dome.

Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 the following year, the lighthouse was closed and has since never reopened to the public.

The composition of this painting, looking west towards Sandsend, was created from the photos I took on those visits. Using my knowledge of perspective theory, I created a technical drawing of the top of the lighthouse and added it to the land/seascape composition resulting in a bird’s eye view, or should I say, seagulls eye view of one of Whitby’s architectural icons.