Meet the Leeds artist who has filmed every sunrise in 2021

Tom, 24, will once again leave his house in Burley early tomorrow morning (Dec 31) to head for a new vantage point to capture the last sunrise of 2021.

He plans to paint each and every sunrise for a project called '365.'

He will now edit and condense more than 1,000 hours of footage to create a film of all 365 sunrises.

Tom has to catch up with a backlog of paintings, but is confident of finishing all 365 in new year.

Tom, who graduated from Leeds Art University in June 2020, said he decided to start the project to "reconnect" with the world around him after ditching social media.

And Tom, who is one of more than 20 artists working at Assembly House Studios in Armley, said he did not miss a single sunrise.

In early 2021 Tom was walking up to 15 miles to get to and from locations across Leeds.

"At the start of May I managed to get a car as walking 15 miles every morning was starting to kill me," he said.

"The furthest place I've been to is probably Flamborough Head, which I've discovered at the time of sunrise is my favourite place on earth, it's just heavenly.

"The morning colours reflecting on the sea is incredible.

"It's been an incredible adventure.

Would I do it again? Absolutely not. But I have found a very deep admiration and love for the morning sun.

"The best days came to me when I was going through my worst days.

"At the times where I was feeling incredibly low, the sunrise had this magical way of lifting my spirits.

"I remember one morning; I was going through a break up and the sunrise just seemed like it was going to be a dull one.

"But then all of a sudden, this fog came over and the sun made its way through a gap in the clouds causing this immense display of colour and I was completely surrounded by this golden hue.

"I felt this euphoric buzz of joy and that was the most beautiful thing because at the time, I was really struggling. Sunrise has saved me in many ways this year.

"The next stage in this project is finalising everything. That means finishing the paintings, editing the film and then I aim to work on the final product, which is creating a large-scale installation for the general public to come and see what a year in colour looks like.

"In 2022 I will be back online to share everything related to the project, so if you want to find out more you can follow me on Instagram at tom.newhouse."

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