Ruth Taylor, R.I.P.

Didn't want to deal with this right away, or make the blog into a Necrology. Ruth Taylor was a poet, and a type I knew in the Montreal Literary scene. Didn't really drink with her, or know her, but her end is tragic. She was a flamboyant type, with wild hats, and I thought almost a forced kind of spontaneity. Too bad about the problems underneath. I'm not really part of the Montreal Literary scene, but actually, I orbit around the edges of several Montreal "scenes" like a comet, dropping off particles here and there.

Anyhow, I missed her 'celebration' at a downtown bar this weekend, but wish her whatever it is you wish to someone in these circumstances.

Beach Girl

Here's a pin-uppy kind of woman on a beach. Not much to say. Allows one to practice anatomy, which I need practise with.

Little to do with this, but it's here: if you want to look at photos of cats, specifically mine, click on this picture, and go backwards through Flickr.

Mr. George at Argo Books

A friend died, and I wasn't aware of it, until reading the blog entry below:

[Link]

This is a link to a news story, which at one point, unfortunately confuses Argo books with Astro books across the street, which is comics and best-sellers. Knowing the Gazette, I'll bet you it was the editors who did it.


I don't have a clever sketch, but I enjoyed stopping into the Argo Bookstore, and shooting the shit with Mr. George. Aside from a wonderful bookstore (which I was too penurious to buy much from), he had a great collection of poetry chapbooks and zines. He was truly plugged into the Montreal scene, and it's a great loss. At least he didn't look too bad when I talked to him about a month or so ago. Thinner yes. He'll be greatly missed.

Woman, without robot

Had an idea to draw a wild picture with a robot attacking a sexy woman. Ended up drawing kind of a pensive woman, not so sexy, and no robot. Don't know. Did I chicken out, or am I just more contemplative in these pictures? Often there seems to be something about to happen, or something already has happened, and people are dealing with it.

Hmmm. Snow starting outside, and I have to bike to the office today, because the metro's kaput. I prefer the bike over the metro anyhow, but wish the weather was better. I'll bundle up!

Bad Mood

I've been in a bad mood lately. It's always the little things that get me down, because things in general are going okay. Anyhow, I have some challenging work today with which to occupy myself, so hope that cheers me up.

Up above is an old painting of my work space, complete with cat usurping my chair. I almost uploaded a photo of the same place the way it looks right now, but it looked too messy.

Ah well, who cares:


Boring drawing I did while watching the documentary extras on the "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Rings" extended DVD set:



It always seems to work when I dash something off as up on top. When I labour away at something like I did here, I'm less happy, because the 'realistic' tones show up the sloppiness of the drawing beneath. But I'm unable to draw those blocky undershapes that they teach you in animator's classes, because that destroys the spontaneity, and I'd never even start drawings, let alone finish them.

Might as well copy photographs, which would lead to realistic drawings, but be a kind of hell for me. Still, the photoshop "cut-out" filter does nice things to all those finicky lines, and a bit of colour makes it look like an illo in an old Reader's Digest book:

Woo-Sha

Kind of a "Floating Dragon" or Wuxia ("Sword film" - pronounced as above in the title) character, though not done as elegantly as the Chinese would have. Still, it has that nice dashed-off watercolour vibe, which I like.

God, a much better day than yesterday. Saw the rough cut for my third episode, and it's a delight. So I feel three for three for my first ever TV series. I thought the last episode was going to be a nightmare. Writing it sure was. But it looks great, and now all I need is my little computer returned from the repair place in Ontario in one piece, for my happiness to be complete.

I'm unfortunately a little doubtful on the last point. The letter E was sticking, so I took advantage of my service contract I paid good money for. Unfortunately, that involves wrapping the thing up in a box, which didn't fit, and sending it via courier, who dropped it on my front doorstep just after I told him how fragile and important it was. "Don't worry," he said. Yeah right!

Yellow Couple

Another couple. Watercolour this time.

Les Faubourgs

Hmmm. First sketch from life for a while. At the Second Cup coffee shop in Les Faubourgs, a mall in downtown Montreal. I was trying to hook up with e-mail to send something important. But it didn't work. Nonetheless, I solved the problem. Going to be very busy in a bit.

Subway

I can't imagine how those people who draw in the subway manage it. Too bumpy. And it's illegal to take pictures in the subway, and people don't want you getting in their faces. Still, it's an amazing collection of humanity. Going in or out, I always get the music of "Koyanisqaatsi" running through my head.

Too bad, doing this long afterwards, my technique files off all the rough edges of the people. That girl with the orange hair had eyes that bugged out more, and deeper shadows. But I didn't want to make her look ugly. She was actually the perfect representative of a certain Quebec type, and I wish I had her photo. The girl in the middle is just a placeholder, more or less just a face I draw, and she's what I started before I decided to draw the metro from yesterday.

Still, one can make up a story about this picture, focusing on the thoughts of the people around the edges.