The Story Behind my Coloured Pencil Drawing “Queen of the Night”

I was delighted when Queen Street Gallery, a lovely galley in Neath, South Wales, announced an open exhibition with the theme “Folklore, Fairytales, Myths and Legends” – animals feature heavily in Welsh Mythology and fairytales, so I knew where to look for inspiration!

Details of the Exhibition at Queen Street Gallery, Neath

I’m intrigued by the story of Bran the Blessed, a giant who is rumoured buried on top of Twmbarlwm, the hill near where I grew up. This was the inspiration behind my drawing “Memories of Bran”, which you can see in my “Dark Series” gallery here. I wanted to do something different, but I wanted to stay with the dark theme – I like a challenge!  I did a bit of research and came across the fascinating tale of Blodeuwedd. Blodeuwedd literally means “flower face” in Welsh. As with most tales that come from a spoken tradition, the details of the story can vary, but the essence goes something like this!

The story centres around Lleu Llaw Gyffes, who had a curse placed upon him, which means he can never have a human wife. To get around the curse, the wizards Gwydion and Math make a wife for Lleu out of flowers. The marriage is not a happy one, and Blodeuwedd has an affair with Gronw. The pair decide to kill Lleu, but this is not easy as the only method by which he can be killed is very complicated! Unaware of her betrayal, Lleu is tricked by Blodeuwedd into showing her how he can be slain, upon which Gronw throws a spear at him, which he had forged whilst everyone else was at mass and is the only weapon which could kill him. Their attempt was unsuccessful and Lleu becomes an eagle and flies to safety. Upon hearing of this, Gwydion punishes Blodeuwedd by turning her into an owl, so she can never see daylight again!

"Queen of the Night" Coloured Pencil Drawing

Whilst this may seem like a punishment – flowers love to face the sun – some see this as a release for Blodeuwedd as she escapes her unhappy marriage and human life, returning to the forest and ruling the night skies.

I chose to represent Blodeuwedd as a barn owl, as it is an owl found in many parts of Wales and I thought her colours would work well against the night sky. I also included the moon, mostly because I love drawing the moon! I used anthracite Pastelmat as the surface for this coloured pencil drawing, the colours worked beautifully on this surface, especially those from the Caran d”Ache Luminance pencil range. The background was completed using PanPastels as usual. I found a great reference photo for the owl on the Wildlife Reference Photos website, taken by Andy Wilson. The moon reference photo is my own.

"Queen of the Night" Fine Art print

"Queen of the Night" Greeting Card

“Queen of the Night” will be on display at Queen Street Gallery, Neath, alongside another of my “Dark Series” drawings, “Timeless Soul”. The exhibition is on 7th – 28th June 2025, see their website for more details. Prints and cards are available from my Folksy shop, click on the pictures above to go straight to each item, or visit my shop here.