The striking portrait on the cover was painted by the acclaimed artist David Benegas. Malmsteen states, “That was my wife April's idea. David lives near us in Florida, and we were talking to him about other projects. I did a photo shoot with Mark Weiss, who I think is a great photographer and someone I've worked with for a long time. Then David based the portrait on this. The painting itself is huge, and we've had the idea to use it to raise money for the April Way Children's Foundation ('dedicated to bringing the artists of the world together to give hope to kids, teens, and young adults that have been orphaned or are in foster care all across the world').”

 

 

David Banegas is a Bolivian born artist, specializing in action painting. David is best known for his colorful portraits of Hollywood’s historic and contemporary A-listers such as Marilyn Monroe, Heath Ledger, and Johnny Depp. David began his artistic journey at a young age. At a mere 11 years old he had his first art gallery showing in Campo Grande, Brazil. Self-portraits and images in their actual likeness were his main focus. At age 12, he painted a portrait of Bolivian President Hugo Banzer. Upon receipt of the portrait, Banzer awarded David the opportunity to study privately with Masaiko Fujjita, old master art teacher from Japan. During his two year apprenticeship, David mastered paintings of landscapes, florals, and buildings using unique brush techniques. At the age of fifteen David moved to Carthage, Illinois as an exchange student. There he was able to learn English from his host family and attend art classes at Macomb University of Illinois. From there, David moved to Miami where he continued his studies at the Ft. Lauderdale Art Institute. Miami served as a fertile training ground where David grew exponentially. “My technique is something that happens at the moment, it flows, I can’t explain it. It is just that moment. It can be really fast or it can be really slow, it can take forever, but it only happens that moment. It is the art that God gives you, it is an unbelievable feeling.” David has the philosophy of giving as much as you can, and then it will be given to you. In 2008, he did a portrait of Marilyn which was auctioned to benefit ‘The Dragonfly Foundation’, focused on bringing joy and comfort to children with cancer, founded by P. J. Schrantz, a retired New York City firefighter whose son passed away from Leukemia. David remains dedicated to working for children’s charities around the United States and South America, as David says, “They are our future”. David has established the ‘David Banegas Foundation’ which is primarily focused on providing children with shoes, both domestically and in his native country of Bolivia. David sums all of this work up as being “the pursuit of happiness’.