HOWARD CRUSE ORIGINAL ART: Page 207 of Stuck Rubber Baby

Medium: India Ink applied with a Rapidograph on 2-ply Strathmore plate-surface bristol board; some brushwork added for natural texture and hair. Shaded with intricate crosshatching. Snowflakes are added in the last two panels with dabs of white guauche.

Dimensions: 17-3/4"x23" (Original art is 250% of the image size in the American edition)

Condition: Excellent, with following caveats: A photostat patch is used at the bottom of panel 12 to accomplish the "reversed" (white letters on black) lettering. The page is otherwise free of correction patches.

Provenance: The original art will be shipped directly from the artist.

Comments by the artist: In this scene, a lead-in to the novel's climactic two-page-spread, we view the comfortable present-day intimacy of a Toland who has made peace with the fears and tumult of his youth as depicted in the novel's foregoing 206 pages. Small details bring together the threads of his life: an ACT-UP poster on the wall suggests that, inspired by the activists who opened his eyes to large issues, he has left political apathy behind as he has matured; next to the poster, the framed snapshot of his daughter before she was released for adoption by others shows that she will never be forgotten. And the easy, anxiety-free expression of affection between the two partners makes it clear that Toland's early fears of his gayness have now been resolved. (TRIVIA NOTE: As a private tip of the hat to my friend, the singer-songwriter Tom Wilson Weinberg, I placed Tom's CD "Get Used To It" next in the stack of CD's when Toland lifts the "Lost Gems of Jazz" CD containing Anna Dellyne Pepper's song.)