"Gabriels Message"
11"x17"
acrylic and Berol Prismacolor Pencils on Illustration board
"I know a bassist named Ben in a local band that toured Europe very successfully and played local St. Louis clubs. I was working in a local club doing artwork promotions, introducing bands and other odds and ends, we got a call that he would not be able to make the performance that night and was in the hospital. A few days later, we learned that he had been diagnosed with cancer.
Our friend fought the good fight, there was a benefit at the club to help the family with medical costs, everyone was pulling for him. Eventually, however, this very young and talented man left this world for the next. We were all sad to see him leave us, and I got to thinking about music and the afterlife.
Then, I listened Sting's otherworldly "Gabriels Message". I wondered about my friend and I imagined that he may have found some guys to jam with wherever he was, I thought perhaps he might be teaching the spirits some new stuff, perhaps even the Arch-Angel Gabriel himself, so often associated with music. That's how this piece was born. It looks nothing like Ben, but his spirit is behind it. I used this design on Holiday cards the next year with the text 'Make a joyous noise unto the world' I try never to refer to those who have left this world in the past-tense, I believe we go on, energy never dies, it just changes form."