Archive for the ‘ruttan’s place’ Category

July 19, 2012 1

Work on the Ruelle Verte — Neighbours in Action

By in ruttan's place

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. […]

March 29, 2012 0

Sherwin Tjia Cat

By in cats, ruttan's place

As 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.

March 29, 2012 0

Hey Look, It’s Me!

By in digital, ruttan's place, sketches

I 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 […]

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February 10, 2012 0

Dropped Dip Pen

By in ruttan's place, watercolour

This 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!

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February 8, 2012 0

Spoons

By in ruttan's place

My 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 […]

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January 17, 2012 0

Wacom Intuous 4 – the scratchable pen tablet

By in ruttan's place

Electronics – 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 […]

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November 2, 2011 0

Exploding Toothbrush Sequel

By in ruttan's place

It 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 […]

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August 17, 2011 4

Ruttan family ephemera -E.H. Ruttan and Son General Store, Hardisty, Packing Tape.

By in ruttan's place

I 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 […]

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August 9, 2011 0

Painting Away the Blues

By in cats, men, paintings, ruttan's place, sketches, women

Painting 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 […]

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June 30, 2011 0

Pinocchio

By in montreal, ruttan's place

Taking 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!

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June 14, 2011 0

L’Écho d’un Fleuve

By in montreal, ruttan's place

Spent 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 […]

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April 19, 2011 0

A Century of Progress

By in ruttan's place

I 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 […]

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March 2, 2011 10

The Case of the Exploding Electric Toothbrush

By in ruttan's place, sketches, watercolour

I’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 […]

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February 21, 2011 0

Light Box Mark II

By in cats, ruttan's place, sketches

As 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 […]

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