Death of the Endless & Lucifer the Fallen (from Neil Gaiman's Sandman Universe) by Michael Kaluta

JAW DROPPPING!!!!!

In what could only be described as karmic equilibrium, I picked this up the day after I sold a published page from Madame Xanadu —and of course I vastly prefer this. 

Well I remember, the kickstarter, don't worry
How could I ever forget?
It's the third time and the last time a Kaluta get
But I have known the Shannon why you keep your Endless, oh
No you don't fool me
'Cause the hurt devil show
The pain Neil sows
A master to you and me

I can feel art comin' in the air tonight, oh Lord
I've been waitin' for this comment for all my life, oh Lord
I can feel art comin' in the air tonight, oh Lord
I've been waitin' for this comment on my scythe, oh Lord oh Lord

Etrigan couldn't have said it better!

Beautiful Kaluta piece! Congrats! Perhaps he'll get around to completing my commission within the next decade. *sigh*

I didn't get this directly from him, but someday I'll show you what he wrote in my copy of The Studio...

Awesome Kaluta piece. His Death is nice, and his Lucifer is epic! Try try try again and you may succeed to secure art the 3rd time around, congrats!

I've gotten lucky on more than one occasion, but as a longtime gallerist I've been conditioned to let go of artworks that I love —because it would be unfair to patrons (and the artists) if the gallerist kept all the best pieces for themselves. The primary directive of a gallery is to place important pieces into esteemed collections, but there have been instances of key works not selling and therefore being available for a private purchase. You can't spend all your profit on art or you won't have a gallery for very long, bit all good gallerists are also collectors. It just requires balance. 

Because of that, I've had to reach out to buyers about possibly buying back or trading for a piece I had previously sold. I can count on one hand the number of times I was able to do that, but it has empowered me to follow up with auction winners and owners of pieces that aren't necessarily for sale. 

It helps that collectors of a certain age have begun liquidating, but I still have to chock it up to luck on this one.

I know how much you love this piece, so it's great to see you finally post it. I'm very confused though. Because in the description you say that you saw this piece offered by Shannon just a couple of weeks ago and that you just received it. Yet I remember very well that I selected this piece and not only showed it during the Show & Tell #56 episode we did together, but it was literally the very first piece I started the show with. So, as you might imagine, enquiring minds want to know......

The original text I had written for the unboxing I did on my IG and posted it here without proofreadint it. It was clearly out of date, so thanks for posting this reply, as it encouraged me to update it. 

Good show, ol' chap!

Fantastic piece, regardless of when you got it. (c:

Lucifer does look like he's turning his head, as to say to Death, "O.K., I'm ready. Go ahead and cut them off" 

It's an odd feature, but Kaluta's wings are very distinctive. 

The more I study it, I see Lucifer escorting her, but the beauty is that it allows for interpretation.

Congrats on turning your blue eyes green. Quite the trick! Oh, the art is pretty cool too.

Good things to those who wait. The action on the scythe is fantastic!

"Next thing, you're going to be moaning that I ought to get a Scythe!" Heh. (Also, cheers!)