Archive for the ‘ruttan’s place’ Category

November 13, 2016 0

Shrine to Leonard Cohen

By in montreal, ruttan's place

Coming 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, […]

November 10, 2016 0

de Rouen and Dufresne

By in paintings, ruttan's place, sketches, watercolor, watercolour

A quick study of the corner across from my house in Montreal, Canada.

October 19, 2016 0

Remember the Days In the Old Schoolyard

By in color, montreal, paintings, ruttan's place, sketches, watercolor, watercolour

Kids 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.

May 16, 2016 0

Street Corner

By in pencil, ruttan's place, sketches

Should have noted where this was. I think it’s rue Fullum below Ontario. In Montreal, for you strangers.

March 4, 2016 0

Iffy Paper

By in color, Jack's House of Cats, montreal, paintings, ruttan's place, watercolor, watercolour

Found 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 […]

February 3, 2016 1

Paintings on Whatman paper

By in paintings, ruttan's place, self-promotion

This is a recent painting I did on the Whatman paper. Even though I work hard on adding light, I fancy that it’s somehow brighter, almost sparkly. Here’s the paper stretched and ready to go: Here’s a closeup of the grain. It’s pretty rough, Hot-rolled, as they say (I think). Maybe I’m the only one […]

February 2, 2016 1

J. Whatman Antique Paper

By in paintings, ruttan's place, sketches, watercolor, watercolour

In the last post I was writing about painting on simple typing paper, and the (futile) effort of stretching it. Well, today I was stretching some old paper I had inherited from my late Mom’s stash of art materials, which I had taken with me to Montreal back in 1987 from our family home in Calgary. […]

September 25, 2015 0

Jack Ruttan – Storyboards and French-English Translation

By in collaboration, ruttan's place, self-promotion, storyboards

I’ve made up a promotional postcard to advertise my skills. It’s going up on walls and into mailboxes in the real world, because I’m thinking people like to hold something in their hands. It’s also something cute to hand out after a face to face meeting. Remember those? My “adobe illustrator” skills were a little […]

September 23, 2015 0

Pilgrims and Spies

By in cats, color, Coloured Pencils, heads, men, paintings, pencil, ruttan's place, sketches, watercolor, watercolour

Morning sketches, to clear my head, and chase away the nightly terrors. I’m on my front balcony, the sun just peeping over the buildings and trees. These are just things I’ve done yesterday and today. The usual things I’ve seen, either real or on TV, and faces, of course. Out of my head, and from […]

September 9, 2015 0

The Great Antonio

By in montreal, pen and ink, ruttan's place, sketches

Today, a park in Montreal got a bench in it dedicated to the Great Antonio. He’s a former Montreal strongman you can read about here. Meanwhile, here are some items from my flickr feed to do with him. A drawing I did of him, the way he looked sitting in the Metro in the 1980s-2000s […]

August 13, 2015 0

Men at Work

By in machines, men, montreal, pen and ink, pencil, ruttan's place, sketches, watercolor, watercolour

One woman, too. They’ve been tearing up the schoolyard across the street from me. I’m being driven a little snakey by the roaring of trucks, the constant beep-beep-beep, and the dust. So, I’m consoling myself by drawing the occasional picture of things. They’ll be here all August, so there is probably more to come.

April 29, 2015 0

Warm Day Sketches

By in color, montreal, ruttan's place, sketches, watercolor, watercolour

Haven’t been able to write that much, lately. I’ve also got sketches and words from the Blue Met literary fest last weekend, but haven’t organised them. Overcome as I am by end-of-month nerves. Still, here are a couple of things from off my balcony. The police van pulled away as I was sketching it. But […]

January 2, 2015 0

Mme. Pellerin R.I.P.

By in ruttan's place, watercolor, watercolour

My neighbour, Madame Pellerin, died today, or maybe yesterday. I learned this today from my neighbour Mme. Goudreau. Madame Pellerin had been living in the apartment to the lower right of me in this triplex, and was there when I moved in, in 1991. More recently I would do little chores for her, like shovelling […]

August 26, 2014 0

Scenes from Life

By in color, montreal, ruttan's place, sketches, watercolour

Sketch of my bike I drew in my friend’s back yard over the weekend. Can you find the cat? Sketch of some tables in a local park. This is a boy bike riding in the empty wading pool at that same park: