It’s Mr. Boggedy again!
September 2, 2015
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Hangin’ With Mr. B.
By Jack Ruttan in cats, Gouache, sketches, watercolor, watercolour
September 2, 2015
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Wednesday Sketches
By Jack Ruttan in color, horses, sketches, watercolor, watercolour
August 28, 2015
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Léon and Emma
By Jack Ruttan in color, heads, paintings, sketches, watercolor, watercolour, women
This is Léon and Emma from MADAME BOVARY. Plus, a lot of attempts at watercolour “colour wheels,” and a Big Suit man.
August 26, 2015
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Parc Médéric-Martin Wading Pool
By Jack Ruttan in montreal, paintings, parks, sketches, watercolor, watercolour
I hope I haven’t already put this up. It’s from last year, and the pool has been totally renovated, so it doesn’t look like this anymore.
August 13, 2015
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Men at Work
By Jack Ruttan 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.
August 10, 2015
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Prefontaine Metro Station, Montréal
By Jack Ruttan in montreal, sketches, watercolor, watercolour
July 29, 2015
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Back at the Comic Jam
By Jack Ruttan in collaboration, color, pen and ink, Rick Gagnon, sketches, watercolor, watercolourHadn’t been to the Montreal Monthly Comic Jam for a while. My pal Rick Gagnon invited me over, so I decided to make the effort.
Pleasant seeing Rick again. He embellished a couple of drawings of mine.
The watercolour is especially great, because he did this (using my paints) in very low light, where it’s hard to tell the colours apart.
Absolutely no one can interpret my drawings as well as Rick.
July 26, 2015
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Watercolour Clematis
By Jack Ruttan in color, sketches, watercolor, watercolour
Painted clematis spilling over the newel post, while sitting on my friend’s porch.
July 21, 2015
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Morning Face
By Jack Ruttan in sketches
Just some anonymous imaginary person, painted on the little computer.
June 25, 2015
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Digital Painting of a Building
By Jack Ruttan in digital, montreal, sketches
I assure you, these are hard for me to do. Trying to retain a bit of the handmade charm of the drawing, while the machine wants everything straight and boring. Also, choosing colours is difficult in this medium. In watercolours there are only a few tints, which you get used to. Still, even though this isn’t a terribly accurate drawing of the real place (just down the street from here), it’s convincing enough for me.
Later, I can put a grumpy person walking by in front, as per usual.
June 25, 2015
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Review of The Penguin Book of Crime Stories, Vol II.
By Jack Ruttan in Book ReviewsI’ve read The Penguin Book of Crime Stories, Volume 2, Peter Robinson ed. Easy book to get through – reading story after story is like munching potato chips.
I’ve now got the idea that a crime story is about conflict, but taken to the level that most of us rarely aspire to. We can hate a boss, but very few of us will execute a plan to slit his throat, and then dispose of the evidence. In real life we may sit and fume, but the fictional version where violent and decisive action is taken is satisfying.
Of course, in fiction at least, crime doesn’t pay (except in those cases when it does).
Through reading these stories we can play at being the perpetrator, or the sleuth. These are plot-driven stories, so the action is straightforward. This is unlike the literary tale where, for instance, someone is crying at the end, and the reader has to review all that went before to put together the pieces and find out what has changed. Hence the crime story’s quick read, and a general sense of satisfaction at the conclusion of each tale. Justice has been arrived at. Or a clever plan has been executed.
Reading crime books and stories as I’ve been (thanks to a friend with a big and often-updated library), I’m finding elements of formula. Too many of them take the same tropes and play them over, again and again. I might try writing something like one of these. It will take a bit of research to create the characters I have in mind. Doing suspense looks like fun, and then there are the twisty plots, which I am less fond of.
June 15, 2015
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Peggy and Stan
By Jack Ruttan in heads, sketches, watercolor, watercolour, women
Did a picture of Stan, who is Peggy’s hairy friend on the “Mad Men” TV show, when I realised I had space on the paper, and should probably do Peggy too. She was much harder to draw, and I spent most of the morning on that. Oh well.
I like this paper.
June 9, 2015
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Something New
By Jack Ruttan in ballpoint pen, color, sketches, watercolor, watercolour
In a bit of a mood. So, these people are appropriate. I still love drawing with the ballpoint pen, no matter how unarchival it may be.
June 5, 2015
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Small Paintings
By Jack Ruttan in color, sketches, watercolour
I first thought of titling this post “Fairly Insane Paintings,” but am trying to be kinder to myself.
These all measured seven and half-inches wide, and I think I’m going to do a lot more of them, but on better paper. They were fun to paint.
I don’t know what possessed me to put a cute puppy dog in with Dante and Virgil, but sometimes one’s first idea isn’t always the best. But they’ll only get better.
