I’m just putting this up to see how big the graphic is…. Not too impressive, eh? It’s relaxing sitting on the front balcony doodling faces and the passing scene outside. People go by, things go by, as James Agee put it… Watercolour takes a lot of work to get back to one’s level. Haven’t sold […]
Archive for the ‘montreal’ Category
May 17, 2024
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Watercolour Faces
By Jack Ruttan in color, Gouache, heads, Jack's House of Cats, men, montreal, paintings, Portraits, self-promotion, sketches, watercolour
April 26, 2024
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April Blog
By Jack Ruttan in ballpoint pen, color, Coloured Pencils, heads, montreal, paintings, pencil, ruttan's place, sketches, watercolor, watercolourHere we are, in my old-fashioned editor, putting up pictures from my sketchbook into my old-fashioned blog. I used to know how to write CSS, and make pretty styles for text and paragraphs. Not to mention the tags for these illustrations. Haven’t done much of that for a long while! I listened to a […]
February 18, 2022
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News Extra
By Jack Ruttan in black and white, montreal, sketchesThis was such a fun freelance gig. I did illustrations and writing for NEWS EXTRA, a newspaper tabloid sold at supermarkets and gas stations. It pretended to come out of Florida, but was actually published from an office in the Notre Dame de Grace neighbourhood of Montreal. Every other week or so I brought in […]
January 16, 2018
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Housing Clinic
By Jack Ruttan in ballpoint pen, black and white, montreal, pen and ink, sketchesSketches taken during a visit to Arnold Bennett’s housing clinic in Montreal. He does good work with people who have apartment problems.
July 30, 2017
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Mount Royal Sketches
By Jack Ruttan in color, montreal, paintings, parks, sketches, watercolor, watercolourYesterday, I went to a friend’s place just over Mount Royal, Not far from the Côte-des-Neiges Cemetery gates. And it was such a nice day I sketched this elaborate monument just inside the gates. Got to the other side of the “mountain.” That’s the part I call the “front” because it faces what used to […]
November 21, 2016
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First Snow
By Jack Ruttan in montreal, ruttan's placeMy nice neighbour Sylvie is trying to coax a little declawed cat out from under a front porch around the corner. Unfortunately, she’s doing this by rapping with spoon on a closed can of cat food. I think she’d do better with opening the can, leaving it a little distance away from the gap under […]
November 14, 2016
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A Montreal Moment
By Jack Ruttan in montreal, ruttan's placeI have a middle-aged neighbor named Michel, who lives across the way here on rue de Rouen. Yesterday afternoon, when I was lugging my bike down my front stairs, he beckoned to me, and crossed the street, wanting to talk. I was headed off to Expozine, the November book, comics and alternative art fair. But […]
November 13, 2016
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Shrine to Leonard Cohen
By Jack Ruttan in montreal, ruttan's placeComing back from Expozine, the November book and alternative art fair, I thought I’d take a detour and visit Leonard Cohen’s house at the corner of Boulevard Saint Laurent and rue Marie Anne in Montreal. My friend used to have an apartment around the corner, so I knew this place well. Never saw Mr. Cohen, […]
October 19, 2016
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Remember the Days In the Old Schoolyard
By Jack Ruttan in color, montreal, paintings, ruttan's place, sketches, watercolor, watercolourKids in the schoolyard facing my balcony are playing in the leaves. I couldn’t resist sketching them. They move too fast, so this is mainly imagination, but I hope I’ve captured a hint of the colours and fun.
August 15, 2016
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Dig Pigs
By Jack Ruttan in ballpoint pen, comics, montreal, watercolor, watercolourThis morning I was annoyed at all the construction noise outside, so drawing this felt like a good way to get rid of my frustrations. The title “Dig Pigs” is from graffiti I saw on one of this city’s ubiquitous “ROAD CLOSED” signs. It made me laugh.
August 10, 2016
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Colour Pictures
By Jack Ruttan in color, montreal, paintings, sketches, watercolor, watercolour
July 13, 2016
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Two-Two-Two-Oh, rue Parthanais
By Jack Ruttan in black and white, montreal, pencil, sketchesDrat, forgot the little fruit juice bottle full of water, so this is pencil only. This is the artists’ co-op on Parthenais street. Someone trusted me enough to let me watch their bike as I sketched this. Glad they weren’t away for too long.
March 4, 2016
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New Paintings
By Jack Ruttan in color, Jack's House of Cats, montreal, paintings, watercolor, watercolourIt’s been a while, but here are some new paintings for “Jack’s House of Cats.” Both of them are re-imagined a little. I snapped the Hotel Kent in the early 90s, when the sign was still up. But in this, I tried to picture what it was like in its “heyday.” The Bain Morgan is […]
March 4, 2016
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Iffy Paper
By Jack Ruttan in color, Jack's House of Cats, montreal, paintings, ruttan's place, watercolor, watercolourFound this sheet of sort of cardboard-y paper in my files. After my recent 1941 Whatman experience, I wondered whether this was one of my better types of paper (it was stored away, and did have “deckled” (ie. neatly torn) edges). It might have been Arches Cold Rolled, or some such thing. So I stretched […]