Alfred Pellan is well-known to the Quebec art crowd as a guy who produced surreal imagery, kinda-sorta Picasso-like (I’ll probably be stoned for saying so). Born in Quebec City, he became closely associated with École des Beaux-Arts de Québec. Like many Quebec artists, he also studied at École nationale supérieure des Beaux-Arts in Paris. He died in 1988.
There’s a bust in honor of him in the Jardin de St. Roch and I drew it. I struggle with pencil shading. I’m sure this is in no small part because I do it so rarely but to make matters worse I decided to try to do it with red pencil. My buddy Yvan does it so smoothly so I know it’s not the tool, but the guy I see in the mirror every morning that is at fault.
Nevertheless, here is my attempt. It was drawn on 8 1/2 x 11 Strathmore Bristol (vellum) using a 2mm lead holder and Turquoise red lead. There was also a couple hours involved.
I think this came out really well and is particularly striking in red. Your two hours of effort paid off!
Thanks, Tina. I like to do this sort of thing once in a while as I think it helps my other sketching. The red pencil is very pleasing, at least to me. Wish I could wield it better. — Larry