Artist's Notes...

gratitude to a handful of American artists who traveled the countryside with pen and paper documenting early 19th century cities. Their work was not popular at the time. Galleries and collectors were primarily interested in the magnificent works of the romantic landscape painters. In an age before photography, without the outstanding pen and ink drawing of Edwin Whitefield we would not know what the 1840 Buffalo waterfront and Dart's original grain elevator looked like. That drawing became the basis for my painting.

Whitefield's view, which was taken from the top of the old lighthouse, looks across the creek to the north east at the city of Buffalo. The angle I wanted to paint was a water level view looking north west, directly at Dart's elevator. The problem became how to translate the period drawing into a form I could study from a different vantage point. Computer models are difficult to build and do not provide a tactile three-dimensional experience. I proceeded to build a simple large-scale architectural model using the building facades that were distinctly rendered in the Whitefield drawing. Individual building plans were derived from period property maps. I also researched and developed simple models for numerous Great Lakes vessels. The busy harbor would need barks, brigantines, schooners, sloops, barges and small rowing craft. I also included the small passenger steamboat Emerald, which can be seen in Whitefield's drawing. As I peered along the white cardboard and paper model, with all the ships in place, letting my imagination create walls of brick and clapboard, I was transported back through time. That experience gave me the confidence to paint the scene.