Golden Gowanus

One doesn't usually associate the Gowanus Canal, seen here from the Carroll Street bridge in Brooklyn, with the Venetian paintings of Turner, but the golden glow on the buildings and the water from the late afternoon winter sun does it for me.  Unfortunately the only boat in the canal is a sunken wreck on the left, not a gondola, while parked buses line up on the right.   6x8 oil on panel.

Hiding The Change

Bond Street near the Gowanus Canal facing south usually presents sharp contrasts in light late in the day.  It's a place I love to visit, though, as the orange barriers indicate, it's changing so fast, it's starting to lose its appeal. The light and dark contrasts however hide this change.  6x8 oil on panel.

The Smudges and Mess

It may be obvious that I prefer to paint the smudges and mess of the city, not the straight-edged girders and clean shadows.  This painting depicts the metal fence along Carroll Street near the bridge over the Gowanus Canal in Brooklyn.  It's an 12x24 oil canvas.

When The Light Is Right

If you were to take the walkway that goes around the Whole Foods supermarket at Third and Third in Brooklyn, you  would see this view of the Gowanus Canal where it forks into two directions.  That building in the background does have the funny cubist shape.  The Gowanus Canal is beautiful when the light is right.  This is an 11x14 oil on multimedia board.

Bisected Twice in Brooklyn

An 18x24 oil on canvas of the Union Street Bridge in Brooklyn.  I'm always intrigued by the ways to bisect a canvas in both directions and put stuff in each section so that it doesn't look crossed.  Of course I like the bridge too with the late afternoon light and shadows.

Sinking Gowanus

Recently I did a Yupo version of this view of the sinking boat in the Gowanus Canal as seen from the Carroll Street Bridge in Brooklyn on a dingy day.  This is an 18x24 oil on canvas version.  From a google search, I learned that there was a Gowanus art project of some sort a few years ago featuring an old boat, but this boat is not the one that appears in the photos.

Another Yupo

Another Yupo drawing, an 8x10 pen, brush, and ink wash with touches of watercolor, depicting the Gowanus Canal from the Carroll Street bridge.  There's a boat there that sometimes is afloat, and sometimes is partially submerged.  Yupo seems a good surface for watery subjects.

Gowanus Expressway

Standing on the west side of the Union Street bridge over the Gowanus Canal, and looking east, one can see another kind of Gowanus 'expressway.'  I like how the painted graffiti and the decaying piers reflect each other.  There's so much activity on this wall, that I felt compelled to simplify the upper part of the painting.

Brilliant Gowanus

When I am in Brooklyn wandering around, I usually end up at the Gowanus Canal.  This is a view from the Union Street Bridge on a day when the sun was out making the water brilliant and the buildings shine.  I painted this rather broadly because I only wanted to suggest the multitude of details.   The Gowanus is not always like this.  The last time I was there, recently, there was a very low tide, exposing about four or five feet of mud not often seen, and the canal smelled awful.

Gowanus Drawing

The twentieth pen and ink drawing is a view of the Gowanus Canal from the Union Street Bridge.  When I am in Brooklyn, walking around, I always seem to find myself eventually near the Gowanus Canal.  It doesn't have a good reputation, but nevertheless, it still has the beauty of a large body of water.

Gowanus

Another of the larger oils I have been working on:  18x24 of the Gowanus Canal.