"This is a piece that I actually painted several years ago. It is a companion piece to a painting created around the same time entitled Ave Maria. Although I have always liked this painting, for some reason it remained unfinished in my mind, and thus I never showed it in public. I finally did bring the painting out and add the finishing touches that made it "complete", but by that point I had moved on to other projects and I considered my style to be improved over what I had shown in this painting. Therefore, this one remained in storage for several years. None the less, I still like this piece, so I recently decided to scan it and place it up for view on the website. For lack of a better name I simply chose to entitle this one Ave Maria II."
- Russell Smith