Johnny's Dog

1986

Oil on canvas mounted on plywood with wood frame

16 X 24"

Johnny's Dog is based on an image from The Fun Encyclopedia, a wartime edition of games and recreations. "The storyteller draws as he tells about the dog. Johnny lived in a house that looked like this. It had two windows and a door at the front. It had two chimneys, one on either side. (The storyteller proceeds to draw the house.) Johnny had a dog, but he couldn't find him. So he said 'Maybe my dog is over at Sue's house.' Now Sue was Johnny's friend and she lived close by. Johnny had a special path that he followed to get to Sue's. So he started down this way, then turned sharply and went this way. He fell in a hole, but got up. He fell again. In fact he fell four times. Then he came to a corner and started right up to Sue's house. When he got there the smoke was coming out of the chimney. (All of this time the storyteller is drawing the route that Johnny followed. At this particular point he draws the smoke coming out of the chimney.) He called Sue and said: "Sue, have you seen my dog?" "Yes, I have," Sue replied. "He has just gone home." So Johnny went straight home and sure enough there was his dog."