Utopia Moment sketches and writing by Jack Ruttan and friends

Some kind of aerial flyer gentleman.

More signs of a diseased mind. Better bring back the cats.

From the small book, this time!

A little more cozy with the pen and ink. Also, the drawing here’s more relaxed. Too many little guidelines, and maybe a degree of uptightness harms the art. I don’t mind putting up stuff I’m not too thrilled with, because the blog is about process. And, sometimes, stuff I’m not happy with, someone else loves, or at least gets something out of. Hard to tell. So, I throw it all against a wall, and hope something sticks.

Anyhow, what’s this guy got in the bag? That’s a question:

Still just working on stuff. It’s not always perfect, but I like the process. Last night I was trying to paint glamour girls, or cheesecake. A popular topic in some quarters. Anyhow, Cyd Charisse from a photo is lacking life. She’s also lacking Gene Kelly from Singin’ In The Rain at the end of her toe.

Below, it’s Wonder Woman as drawn and painted from my head. A little more vibrant, though I didn’t get what she was doing, or how she should be standing. I could copy things I like, but again, that’s boring for me.

I think the big manga eyes are more expressive. It’s hard, actually, to draw a full-length human being, and have the head big enough you can make a proper expression. Whatever the subject, I’m trying to make it fun, and interesting, and also good as a drawing. Long ways to go. It’s still a journey.

For the title, thinking of Hokusai, who sometimes signed himself “Old Man Mad About Drawing.”

When I drew this guy, I was watching Velvet Underground.

My categories seem increasingly random. I’m not even sure what “Tags” are, so I don’t use them. I want to put in a Twitter and an RSS badge, but later. I’m always loth to make changes here.

Drawing and painting women today. Want to be a little more ambitious, but it’s tough in one’s old age. I will strive!

The scanner’s all right for black and white, but really not good for colour. Expecially watercolour. Saw some new scanners for sale, might pick one up. I hate spending money, however.

Those seem to be my two modes of drawing (get your mind out of the gutter!)

Further hindering me during these cold December days is Nora the cat, who thinks she owns my chair. If I’m sitting here, she’s sometimes below, looking up anxiously. I get up, and she takes over.

i’m seriously thinking of retiring this chair, and calling it a “cat tree.” But she’ll probably want to take over the new chair, too. Not a lot of space in this little work room!

I used to write for art journals, and about art, in newspapers. I’ve been out of that world for a while. It seems a little different when you’ve been on the outside, though I still feel at home in a gallery or museum. Not everyone feels that way!

Maybe I’m getting a little back into writing about art through these blog postings, and by visiting events. Even the comic convention. They’re all artists, striving, creating stuff that doesn’t have practical utility, and doing it for reasons they might not always understand. You can talk about the kind of art, whether it’s pleasing or not, and how much money it sells for, but all of it’s similar in some ways. Though the artists would never be able to agree on that.

Anyhow, here’s a yard I walk by often, on my way to the metro. It’s on my street, rue de Rouen, between Iberville and Frontenac streets in Montreal. There’s sometimes an angry dog barking at me from behind the fence, but also some funny things to see, made out of bits of welded junk, and other scraps.

It’s more pretty in the summer, when there’s a fountain running out of the rocking horse’s nose. Sometimes there are Christmas lights around, even during the summer. The gentleman who built the place was in the back, and I got him to pose for a picture.

Here’s a news flash. He tells me he’s turning this shed next door, which used to be a rehearsal space for some heavy metal bands, into a café, next year. I’ll keep you posted on how that turns out! The Café Touski was a bit of a run-down place when it started, and now it’s quite popular. The neighbourhood continues to change.

Speaking of changes, when I moved into the neighbourhood, this building used to be a “Value Explosion” kind of dollar store. Now it’s apartments, with big display windows. That’s where I found this chair, and window cat.

And then finally, speaking of art in the wild, here’s a great painting on the wall inside the Frontenac Metro!

Klaus looks down on you and your stupid life.

These don’t need explaining, but I like to write a little. Above is Catwoman and a dog. Below, the creepy cowboy from Mulholland Drive.

Next, some well-known author at a badly-attended book convention. I’ve sometimes dreamed about being able to fly to the ceiling at these things. Though I didn’t need Leo da Vinci wings.

Bottom, a pensive puss.

Didn’t I just do one of these in September? And then there was Expozine last month. So, many of these artist seemed like old friends. It was fun brandishing around my little Lumix DMC-FS3 and talking to artists. Sound was a little off (and some interviews are in French), but I think things are audible if you turn up the volume.

I think I’ve managed to upload a playlist of 10, count ‘em 10 short videos. First up, two of the organizers talking about the Montreal Comic Con:

I also took still shots. I’m just making these into a slide show, because I’m lazy. However, if you click on one of the photos, you might get website information where you can see that person’s work. (not for the cosplayers, sorry!)

So, that was fun. Again, I didn’t do any sketches, but bought a few comics. Nothing special. I don’t know why I’m doing this, but I kind of like amassing a gallery of Montreal-based comic artists. Maybe next year I’ll have editing software. Yay!