Lovecraftian Daemon

CLIENT: Anton Szandor LaVey

PROJECT: a "Satanic Calendar," cover title not-yet-decided at the time.

LOCATION: San Francisco, California

MODELS: Me, in the mirror and my wife, about a week after she moved in.

FROM BILL'S FACEBOOK: Tonight is "Hell Night" if you're from Detroit or "Mischief Night" if you're from Philadelphia. Alice Cooper is jamming devil-themed songs on his nightime radio program across the nation. Somebody is lighting off fireworks here in Coolidge. This sketch render was commissioned by a now-deceased client of mine from San Francisco back in 1996 just after Lori moved in.

THE HISTORY AND THE SCENARIO: In late October of 1995, with a 29 October "Twas the Night Before 'Hell Night'" deadline, this ancient Lovecraftian Daemon was created for an upcoming January 1996 calendar being designed for a December printing by a now-deceased and somewhat notorious client from San Francisco back in the mid 1990s. Can you guess who? Hint: His wife moved all of their operations and assets back to her native New York after his death. And yes he was a published author.

The client was none other than Church of Satan founder Anton Szandor LaVey who showed up to my San Francisco hotel room two hours earlier than our appointment. Being in a hurry, I photographed the unfinished original with a special Hasselblad camera in a huge hurry earlier in the afternoon, just in case, as Anton had a reputation of showing up at very odd and intrinsically unplanned for times.

Fortunately, the money was well worth the aggravation and the "Applied Stress" as pertained to agreed-upon deadlines being pushed up arbitrarily.

He took delivery of the finished original late in the evening of 29 October 1997--Literally two years to the date of his death in San Francisco.

FROM WIKIPEDIA: Anton Szandor LaVey was an American author, musician, and occultist. He was the founder of the Church of Satan and the religion of Satanism. He authored several books, including "The Satanic Bible, The Satanic Rituals, The Satanic Witch, The Devil's Notebook," and "Satan Speaks!"

AFTER THE CLIENT'S DEATH: In late November of 1997, the original was returned to me by a third party courier who worked as a conceptual designer throughout the Glendale and Studio City areas of the eastern San Fernando Valley of Los Angeles. The courier said that LaVey's widow, Blanche Barton, was busy returning numerous items and materials from Anton's messy back office that she did not want to keep.

FROM WIKIPEDIA: Blanche Barton is an American religious leader who is Magistra Templi Rex within the Church of Satan, and is addressed by Satanists as Magistra Barton. On November 7, 1997, eldest daughter Karla LaVey held a press conference to announce the death of her father Anton LaVey. It was at this time that Barton and Karla LaVey announced that they would run the Church of Satan as co-High Priestesses. Until an internal family probate settlement was reached, LaVey's hand-written will was challenged legally and there was much turmoil amongst the various children by more than one baby momma. How I got this painting back . . . Frankly it was a miracle.

Original drawings and paintings being returned after the buyer died happened twice in my career.