Terence Andrus
By Reinaldo Dennes
T-Baby/T.A. was a dear friend whom I personally knew and loved for many years. The years that we were together on the same pod and section and even the same row of cells, we never argued, but learned from each other. He was attracted to my art and wanted to learn. And I love to share. I told him that what I did he can also do and even in his unique style, if it’s in his heart. “Yes, it’s in my heart,” he said. Then, I told him, through mediation, ask God for this gift, practice, and you will be amazed at the unlimited abilities within you to create from the visions you will see.
His hurt and desire were to reveal the struggles of his people and the colors of his emotions. In these years, he was bursting, glowing with positive creative energies of love. Everything in its season, and it was his glorious time. We also talked about our evolving soul and how to nourish it through mediation and prayers.
This new revelation was inspiring and wonderful as in that spirit of joy, the heavens are opened, and the ideas pour through. So, there weren’t enough hours in the day to accomplish all. In those early years, I gave him a few paintings. (I sell some to people outside of the prison, which is my only source of income.) He wanted to generate some income from his paintings to help his sister. I told him I would share a secret. I said I knew a very rich man in California who, if he could just see the painting, he would give $5,000 and we could share it. He asked me who this person was. I said, “Stevie Wonder.”
He said, “But he is blind…”
“Right, I said, if he could just see the painting, we’d be rich….” We laughed together for quite a while over that one.
When his younger brother Trevion died, I gave him a portrait I made of his brother that was shown at the funeral. I speak through colors, not words. But T.A. also found the words to the colors. He became a poet. He was becoming the man he was always meant to be in art and poetry, and God was the final touch he needed to be free.
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