Here are a lot of my charming neighbours, at a get-together we had this last Tuesday (July 17, 2012) to work on building planting boxes for the Ruelle Verte (“Green Alley”) around my corner in Montreal. The folks from the Sainte-Marie Eco-Quartier built the boxes, and then everyone celebrated with a BBQ in the alley. […]
Archive for the ‘ruttan’s place’ Category
Sherwin Tjia Cat
By Jack Ruttan in cats, ruttan's placeAs the artist promised, Sherwin Tjia has sent me this sketch of a cat. The postman folded it, of course, but I am flattening it out.
Hey Look, It’s Me!
By Jack Ruttan in digital, ruttan's place, sketchesI wasn’t liking how in the other paintings the hair seemed to have little to do with the rest of the face, so here’s a try in the direction of dealing with that. One also has to pay attention to colours. I like the impressionistic thing, and the brush marks. Those are made with very […]
Dropped Dip Pen
By Jack Ruttan in ruttan's place, watercolourThis always happens when I drop one of those dip pens. It sticks into the floor like a dagger in an Indiana Jones movie. Bye bye nice nib!
Tags: cartoons, Nora the cat, ruttan's place, watercolour
Spoons
By Jack Ruttan in ruttan's placeMy friend once used a spoon at my place, and remarked about it. She told me they were better quality than I imagined, and could look much nicer. I hadn’t thought much about them. They were grimy old spoons that I’d been using for ages, which I had taken with me to Montreal from my […]
Tags: ruttan's place
Wacom Intuous 4 – the scratchable pen tablet
By Jack Ruttan in ruttan's placeElectronics – do they make your life easier, or simply more costly and complex? I’ve blogged about my exploding toothbrush, now it’s the saga of the scratchable tablet. All six of you regular blog visitors may have noted I’ve got a new, expensive toy — a Wacom Intuous 4 tablet, which has replaced my Wacom […]
Tags: Activism, digital, ruttan's place
Exploding Toothbrush Sequel
By Jack Ruttan in ruttan's placeIt seems that my exploding toothbrush experience wasn’t as unusual as the manufacturers claimed. Now Health Canada has announced a recall. They don’t make that model toothbrush any more. I got interviewed over the phone by Canadian Press. Nice to have a little effect on things. UPDATE (Nov 3, 2011): Now I’ve got some fairly […]
Tags: Activism, photos, ruttan's place
Ruttan family ephemera -E.H. Ruttan and Son General Store, Hardisty, Packing Tape.
By Jack Ruttan in ruttan's placeI wanted to share a family heirloom, a roll of gummed paper packing tape from my Great Grandfather’s General Store in Hardisty, Alberta. It dates from about the depression (not the current one, I mean about 1932-33), and is slightly stuck together from the gum, but I’ve unrolled a little as you see. Nice phone […]
Tags: Family, photos, ruttan's place
Painting Away the Blues
By Jack Ruttan in cats, men, paintings, ruttan's place, sketches, womenPainting and drawing stuff makes me feel better. here’s are some things from yesterday and this morning! Above is Bamako the Black Cat, whom I’m taking care of for the moment, and an Evil Skwirl. Below, some sketches from my balcony I drew with a ballpoint pen I just bought. Can’t resist trying out a […]
Tags: Animals, ballpoint pen, cats, colour, men, paintings, ruttan's place, sketches, women
Pinocchio
By Jack Ruttan in montreal, ruttan's placeTaking a break from all the sketchbooky angst to post these shots of a performance of “Pinocchio” in the local park, still going on, even as I type this!
Tags: current events, montreal, photos, ruttan's place
L’Écho d’un Fleuve
By Jack Ruttan in montreal, ruttan's placeSpent a while shooting and editing videos of the annual L’Écho d’un Fleuve event, which happens in this neighbourhood every June. It’s a thrill to do, and wonderful to think one lives in a neighbourhood where such things take place. Hooray for artists and dancers and all. Not an easy life. But it’s great to […]
Tags: current events, montreal, ruttan's place, visual art
A Century of Progress
By Jack Ruttan in ruttan's placeI was rummaging through a shelf where I was keeping some of my late Dad’s things, and some items fell out which I had overlooked. A paperback “view book” from the 1933 Chicago World’s Fair and other things. The book is chock full of beautiful watercolour-style illustrations printed on rough paper. I think they’re called […]
Tags: Family, ruttan's place
The Case of the Exploding Electric Toothbrush
By Jack Ruttan in ruttan's place, sketches, watercolourI’ve been using an electric toothbrush for a couple of months. A little nervous about it at first, because the sound of it in my mouth was like the dental tools which still make me shivery. But it seemed to do a great job polishing the teeth, making them white and shiny. That was until […]
Tags: Brush Pen, cartoons, colour, ruttan's place, sketches, watercolour
Light Box Mark II
By Jack Ruttan in cats, ruttan's place, sketchesAs related in an earlier post on my tumblr blog, this year I built a light box, to trace drawings for watercolours. It was made out of a cardboard box my scanner came in, a couple of dollar store LED light bars, and a square of frosted glass I’d found in an alley. It was […]
Tags: Brush Pen, cartoons, cats, colour, ruttan's place, sketches