"Turning poison into medicine" was a common science and practice among indigenuos groups. The art of transforming something detrimental, harmful or negative, into a beneficial substantial property is not an easy task. This van was an assignment which served multilateral grounds and purposes. This man is a doctor and athlete from Vancouver, Canada who suffered a very life-altering, catastrophical, unexpected occurence... he became paralyzed and lost the use of both of his legs. We met in downtown Los Angeles roughly 5 years ago when I was painting a vehicle in the middle of the night. He pulled up in a van with several pitbull terriors who obeyed him, still do, and pull him in his wheelchair at almost illegal speeds. (Metro Sleigh-rides?) He saw another one of my vehicles in Nevada about two years ago and contacted me to design and paint his vision. Boy, this is where the educational journey began. What should have taken two weeks to paint, ended up taking months. The development of his ideas from conceptual sketches, illustrations, research, color pallettes and then airbrushing and clearcoating... the crazy timeslots and daily challenges I faced, the intelligently yet direct e-mailing and major pauses in communication, the thing called "life" seemed to drag my momentum and inspiration on this particular peculiar project to almost, slow-motion. After several "monumental moments".. we grew to truly respect and admire one another for various strengths, characteristics and traits. Dr. Vance Coan seemed taxing... so did I... together, and bilaterally, with God's divine wisdom, humility, accountability and formatting, we have both turned poison into medicine.... once again. He now is traveling and speaking to multitudes about his experiences in this airbrushed van and trailer... I am working on bigger and more complicated projects, through these "blessings in disguises". HR-VC RC 2007