Marsh loved to venture to the popular New York beach resort of Coney Island to draw and paint, especially in the summer. There he began to create works depicting massed beached bodies, emphasising the bold muscles and build of his characters, emulating the heroic scale of the older European paintings. As he explained, ‘I like to go to Coney Island because of the sea, the open air, and the crowds – crowds of people in all directions, in all positions, with and without clothing, moving, like the great compositions of Michelangelo and Rubens.’

He would often paint the same image several times in slightly different styles and media, as with his ‘Girl on a Carousel Horse’ series.