.

Steve's head explodes with light and sound.
This painting is featured inside the EL&S booklet.
.

The Secret Jewel Box was initially released with three CDs in the box, with the remaining releases coming separately throughout the next couple of years. It's available almost exclusively through Steve's official website, Vai.com. The Secret Jewel Box is largely comprised of unreleased material, and music from dozens of different records (many out of print). Ciruelo painted this piece in 1998. Steve saw a series of illustrations in his first artbook, published in 1990, and liked the effect of this new marbling technique.
In that book Ciruelo explained:

"I especially like to add strange textures to the skin, like marble or stone, because in this way I am adding an aesthetic attraction to the human skin. So, often I start to work the figure on a blotted ink background. I shape the body like a sculptor, airbrushing in the shadows and depths, then with a hand brush introduce the highlights and exalting the texture of the stone.
Essentialy what I aim for is to give these figures the appearance of sculptures while remaining alive"

.

.

.

.

.