Tuesday, March 21, 2006

"The Sigh"...

...by Johnny van Munch, circa 1979. Prismacolour.

Not quite "The Scream." This drawing is one of a series of self-portraits I made the summer I worked at General Motors, in anticipation of spending a year painting in Florence. The setting is a bridge in Camp Samac, a short walk north of my parents' place in Oshawa. We will post more from the same sketch book over the next few days.

17 comments:

onemanpunkband said...

wow, did you actually get to paint in Florence??? that's like a dream come true!

KP said...

From GM to Florence...that's an exciting time in life. Its interesting how this is the drawing from the sketchbook created before a huge leap in life. Makes me want to see more about that year and how you changed as a result.

Transition...always interesting, but rarely documented. Thanks for sharing this.
KP.

Drazen said...
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Drazen said...

hey I worked at chrysler for two summers
never spent a year painting in Florence tho

onemanpunkband said...

wow doodlers! thanks. i saw one comment on that 'link' post and i feared the worst. i'd be honored to be a link on your fine blog.

Unknown said...

Hi doodlers! Really nice this sketch, but Eric Bruhn's portrait is great! Love the linework and texture, it reminds me Tulio Pericoli, an amazing italian artist.
Thanks for your kind words.

Martin Wittig said...

Doodlers-- Nice piece! The colors have this moody-dreamy effect--Which I love! Also thank you so much for your nice comments on my blog!

Carlos V. said...

Hello Arna and John, I added you to my links because not only does your work rock but so does all you links!
By the way your cats look awsome! My girlfriend just got a cat and I am obsessed with him.

CV.

andrew said...

I really like the body worlds sketches posted a while back.
also, thanks for the kind words left on my blog and the link!

Unknown said...

nice drawing! Love the color and composition.

Maddie said...

Cool stuff doodlers. It must be cool to be in a painting. Wonder if tiot would be like that Robin Williams movie, but good.

Maddie said...

oops. typo there.

arvindh said...

You have some great sketches and paintings here! Especially liked the life drawings.

Sumeet Surve said...

Firstly thanx for stopping by and Dancingmonkeys is really cool.This is a nice blog. I really like the Alien child illustration, I like the curtain like feeling on the womans face, the light and shadow is simply amazing. Will keep coming for more.

the doodlers said...

Thanks to everyone for their very kind comments! I painted mostly outside of Florence that year, in the countryside between Florence and Siena. Needless to say, the jump from placing car parts in the GM South Plant in Oshawa to sitting in the Tuscan landscape, drinking wine and painting was a HUGE one. I can't remember if I felt any trepidation before leaving for Europe, but a few of the self portraits I did that summer might provide a clue or two. We will put up more of those drawings over the next few days. Hey Drazen! What did you do at Chrysler? I got off easy in Parts and Service, the GM version of 'the pasture!' JVB

MikeS said...

Very nice John! You captured that reflective, glass quality to the water in this drawing very nicely. Can't wait to see more from this period!

the doodlers said...

Thanks, Mike! The nice thing about prismacolour is that you can glaze each colour on and the mix that way! So, you can 'underpaint' with warm colour and glaze over it with a cool one to get a nice shimmering effect. Also, of course, they are very portable and you don't have to wait for them to dry! The word verification is 'kcaoboo' by the way... JVB