English Kills at Morgan Ave.

As Newtown Creek twists and meanders through the industrial area on the border of Queens and Brooklyn, it gradually becomes narrower and more still. The farthest reach of the creek ends entirely in Brooklyn, near the bustling, trendy area of Bushwick at Morgan Avenue. At this point the creeks is a murky, haunting body of greenish water. Creeping out to his remote and polluted area is not pleasant, and a little frightening. I went there twice this past year, once in October 2018, and again in January 2019. The warm fall had kept much of the grasses and trees green and lush through the autumn, but the midwinter landscape was more desolate, and the colors muted by the sky and walls surrounding the space. Here are some paintings created at those two visits.