One of the most frequently asked questions of me:
"when did you get on this lighthouse kick"....
well let me begin...
Many years ago I worked in a hospital on
Staten Island, NY...
...one day while walking through one of the
wards, noticed a patient diligently working
on a large canvas that was propped up near his
bed.......naturally I was curious,
walked over, introduced myself and sneaked a
peak at his work...the painting was in the early
stages, but from what I could see, was the start
of a lighthouse....
....received a wonderful surprise about a month
later when he spotted me nearby and called me
over to view his finished painting...
Must admit lighthouses never made much of an
impression on me..they were something that just
happened to be there...
In viewing this young man's work, my attitude
changed immediately..his lighthouse was quite large,
vivid red with door and windows trimmed in black ....
he captured the beauty, the elegance, the mystery
of what lighthouses are all about....
The young man was discharged from the hospital the
next day, never to see him or his painting again,
but the memory of him and his lighthouse will linger
forever in my mind.......and that was the beginning
of my love affair with lighthouses....
Less than a month later, Mom and I were walking back to
where I had parked my car, after spending a day at an
amusement park with one of my sons...It was a Sunday
night, all stores on the block were closed and all their
refuse had been stacked out at the curb for the next
day's pickup.....
Mom happened to notice a large framed picture resting
on top of a stack of flattened cartons...looking more
closely, the frame was broken and the edge of the canvas
was slightly damaged...lo and behold, it was a watercolor
of a lighthouse..
...as Mom picked it up to show me, she said, "here is the
start of your collection"...and indeed it was...
Within a week it was cleaned up, reframed and now
hangs in a prominent place in my home....
My lighthouse collection which includes everything
from paintings to miniatures, and all sorts of
paraphernalia, now, many, many years later,
totals in the hundreds......
Thanks to the young artist in the hospital for
opening my eyes to the beauty of a lighthouse
and to my Mom for turning an item from a
storekeeper's discarded trash into my treasure
and the start of a cherished collection....
Below is a picture of "My Treasure"...
..the watercolor that started my extraordinary
journey of collecting...Annemarie, (lady in loft)
Lady in Loft Productions
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