When I was 19 years old, I worked as a street outreach worker in the Bowery section of New York City.
Doing missionary work.
My mentor was Rev. William "Bill" Marcus James, the minister of The United Methodist Church on 135th Street in Harlem, New York City.
He would give me clothes, and I would distribute them to the indigent population in the Bowery Skid Row and Lower East Side, while I ministered to them.
I visited many flophouses and made the acquaintance of many Bowery residents.
Decades later, while reminiscing about those days, I was inspired to paint The Bowery.
