I learned from Mr. Marrone that you could choose never to let your passion out of your grasp. Mr. Marrone wore his passion on his body with his tatoos and Mr. Marrone wore his passion on his face and Mr. Marrone wore his passion on his tongue that was always ready with another word to make your heart buzz with joy. Mr. Marrone took this passion and he gave it form. He translated his passion into lines of ink. He once drew a picture of me with a glue bottle. If he saw a student’s art in the trashcan he would pick it out of the trashcan. That’s how much he cared for his students.

A lot of people are deifying Mr. Marrone. People are turning him in to a quasi-divine being of pure creativity and energy who brought joy to all the people around him. I must say to these people that, from my experience, they are entirely correct in doing so. He was just as special as everyone makes him out to be. More even. There is no other person who deserves deification more than he does.

I like to think that while he may have passed on, he is still with us. Every time a person sees his art, he’ll be there. Every time someone tries to draw a horse upside down, he’ll be there. Every time we remember his passion and hard work and dedication and humor, he’ll be there. I know that this is nothing like actually having him. Still, we can cherish what we still have. We can cherish what Mr. Marrone left with us.

One last thing. Mr. Marrone told me not to lick the wall.