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Boston Harbor and Commercial Wharf ca. 1877 Layout

This is the completed layout with some changes from the conceptual sketch. I have changed the horizon line and so that the viewer is in the painting. The original photos were of the harbor were taken from atop a grain elevator across the harbor. It creates too much of a separation of the viewers experience of the harbor.I like to put the beholder of the work in the painting and vantage points that are too elevated remove the viewer and lessen the feeling of what the scene was actually like. I hope I can get this painting started before my Jacksonville FL. trip.

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Emily Reed 26 Sep 2010

Just wonderful the way you put all the detail in! Masterful work~!

Sharon Gonzalez 25 Sep 2010

FANTASTIC WORK, STANTON.

Julie Mayser 25 Sep 2010

With the large size and amazing amount of detail, this constitutes a great amount of work and time, Stanton! Changing the horizon line itself also changes the angle at which you see the buildings, masts, spires, etc and is an awesome feat in itself!

Artist Reply: The buildings that are along Atlantic Ave. behind the Commercial Wharf were especially hard to execute because the perspective was impossible to figure out. Atlantic Ave. runs behind the commercial wharf at a very odd angle, and makes the perspective very slight and subtle. You can check out the angels on Google Earth and you will get a better idea of what I am talking about.

ruth sears 25 Sep 2010

this is brilliant work,excellent detail,wonderful composition,my POD.

Anneke Hut 25 Sep 2010

Stanton, thank you for the lesson about the horizon! Do you use pencils for the sketch or charcoal? How large is this image, there's so much wonderful detail? I think it's going to be a real 'Manolakas' again! :)

Artist Reply: I use an H pencil, and vinyl erasers. If you look closely at this 22 x 30 inch layout, you can see how I changed things as I went along. The church steeple on the far left was redrawn a number of times and you can see the remnant erasure marks. The image looks blotch because I used my scanner set at 600 dpi and I scanned it in about eight sections and then I stitched in Photoshop. As I was scanning the paper buckled and did not lie perfectly flat.