It was Mother’s Day, one of the first nice days of spring, and I was determined to go out painting. I decided to do some small paintings and just have fun. In looking for a new place to go I consulted a map of Philadelphia parks, provided by the Fairmount Park Commission. The map showed that there was a small park area where the Pennypack Creek met the Delaware River in Northeast Philadelphia, depicted on the map as a large open marsh area. I thought, “Great! Perfect place to paint,” as I packed my bug spray.

I drove to the area that the map indicated, but I could not figure out how to get to the marsh because there is a huge prison system complex between the highway and the river. I walked with my paintbox down what seemed to be a promising area, but found myself in a scary gully between two massive prison buildings. Feeling a tad unsafe down there, I trudged back to the car to find this elusive park area. Every street that would get me to the marsh was a guarded entrance to the prison complex. I drove around for an hour looking for a way in. I could see the marsh and the river but could not get access to them, and finally said, “Forget it. I am getting back on I-95 and going home.” I drove past the men’s prison, women’s prison, prison hospital, mental health prison, Prison Family Services facilities and who knows what else. I was about to get on the highway when I saw a little residential street that went to the river. I drove down there to a municipal landing – not the marsh but it would do.

There were a lot of people out enjoying the beautiful Sunday by the river. There was no beach or grassy bank, just a huge asphalt parking lot that went directly into the river. I set up where the asphalt crumbled and broke into chunks where it met the water and set up and started painting. I did this small painting in about an hour and then started Delaware River No. 4.