Should have noted where this was. I think it’s rue Fullum below Ontario. In Montreal, for you strangers.
May 13, 2016
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Dowager Muffin in Pen
By Jack Ruttan in sketches
She was especially mewy today. But then again, that’s how she always is.
May 13, 2016
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Assorted Sketchbookery
By Jack Ruttan in sketches
I’m drawing a lot. Just not putting it up. I shouldn’t do that, I know. Keep up with things.
The weather is warmer, so people are wearing less. They’re more interesting to draw, and I’m also on my perch on the balcony to draw them. Above are a pair of women. Trying to channel R. Crumb with the one on the right.
Below are some hippie types in a nearby park. I’m sorry they’re not very detailed. They tended to move a lot.
April 21, 2016
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Gouache Faces
By Jack Ruttan in color, Gouache, heads, Portraits, sketches, watercolor, watercolour
It’s been a pleasant afternoon, and after some work, I sat on the balcony and painted people who were going by, in opaque watercolour.
April 13, 2016
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Tiger, Tiger
By Jack Ruttan in ballpoint pen, cats, color, digital, sketches
Drew a tiger while on the phone last night. And then coloured and textured it here.
April 8, 2016
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Wedgewood Dr.
By Jack Ruttan in sketchesWedgewood Dr. A short written and directed by Jonathan Balazs, with paintings by Jack Ruttan.
April 6, 2016
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Warm-Up Faces
By Jack Ruttan in sketches
I’ve not stopped drawing things, just gotten out of the habit of putting them up. Still banging away at digital painting, which I might share some other time.
In the meantime, here are some warm-up faces. I draw tons of faces. I prefer to kind of originate things, rather than draw too closely to a photograph.
March 4, 2016
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New Paintings
By Jack Ruttan in color, Jack's House of Cats, montreal, paintings, watercolor, watercolour
It’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 also taken from a little photo of mine from pre-digital days (still on photo paper — imagine that!). But I removed two great big trees from in front. Those trees have been taken down now, anyways.
Now to put them up on the site, and do some more paintings!
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, 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 it, and it became obvious then it was Dollarama cardboard. Still, I painted on it. I like using cheesy materials, because then I feel the pressure is off.
This didn’t take long. I don’t do studies or tracing very often, at least for these nonce paintings. Just drawing by eye, and hoping it all is straight and fits in. I call it my “I can do no wrong” style of painting, because that’s what I’m telling myself as I do it.
Worked out here, but the cars are a little big. I’m calling that “perspective.” That’s me in the lower right-hand corner.
This is the corner of Hochelaga and Frontenac streets. The business used to be Fontana Pizza, which was owned by a very nice man. Unfortunately, his pizza ended up being a little rich for my digestive tract, but I still have a few Fontana coupons. You collected ten of them, and got a free pizza.
Two different slightly hipster greasy spoon restaurants have occupied the spot since the Fontana closed, but they haven’t managed to make a go of it.
(Oh. 18 coupons, then)
While I like this painting, I’m not sure whether it will go on my House of Cats site because of the crummy paper. Still, as another artist said “Who cares if it lasts? We’ll all be dead by then anyways.”
One painting I did when I first came to this apartment in the early 90s was done on crummy paper. I like the changes its undergone, sort of the way some old masters paintings cracked and darkened, before the fad came around of restoring everything.
March 2, 2016
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Further Sketchy Oddness
By Jack Ruttan in black and white, color, Coloured Pencils, dinosaurs, sketches, watercolor, watercolour
That strange animal was inspired by a person on a palaeontological art website who thought that sauropod dinosaurs might have had trunks. Probably not, but the idea led to an interesting-looking beast.
March 1, 2016
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Sketches
By Jack Ruttan in sketches
Sketches from the old school yearbook, and Star Trek.
February 19, 2016
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Colour Combinations
By Jack Ruttan in color, Coloured Pencils, paintings, sketches, watercolor, watercolour
I’m trying out different colour combinations to see if anything twigs my interest. I have to admit that the yellow ochre underpainting thing is still my favourite, but I don’t want to use it as a crutch. Still, light in these paintings seems to be yellow.
These aren’t actually “Wedgewood thumbnail roughs,” (that’s a old project).
Messing with colour schemes, using purposefully “wrong” colours together. The sketches on the left hand side are from Barbara Bradley’s book “Drawing People.” Bless her heart.
February 18, 2016
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Hands
By Jack Ruttan in black and white, Coloured Pencils, pencil, Portraits, sketches, watercolor, watercolour
Trying to do more “House of Cats” pictures, but I’m lacking inspiration. So I went to youtube and watched watercolour technique videos. People’s hands are fascinating, but in these videos you rarely see the faces. So, I drew the hands in watercolour pencil, and then drew the owners’ faces as I imagined them.
Now I notice their pictures by the videos, but I didn’t look at those, at least consciously!