The Story Behind Timeless Soul – Using a Limited Palette to Create Drama

Last Year I did a limited pallet piece “Memories of Bran”, which sold at an exhibition, so it seemed like a good idea to explore this idea further! I also enjoyed the process of using a limited palette on black Colourfix Smooth paper, so I had a good starting point. I’ve also taken lots of photos of the moon, so the basis of the picture was there!

I love to photograph the moon!

I still had to choose the main animal subject for the drawing. Whenever I visit Bristol Zoo Project, I always head straight to Bear Woods. The bears share a large, wooded space with a back of four beautiful wolves. Although the bears and wolves mostly ignore each other and live happily together, sometimes a wolf will tease one of the bears, only to swiftly be put back in its place! I have LOTS of photos of the wolves, so it was easy to find one that matched the composition I had in mind.

I wanted to combine the wolf and moon, as the first full moon in January in known as the “wolf moon”. It seems that this name comes from various traditions but relates to the howling of wolves during the cold, dark winter months. I like to use Photoshop to create my compositions, I can better visualise the finished drawing this way, even though they probably look a mess and don’t make much sense to anyone else!

This photoshop mock up looks a mess, but it makes sense to me!

Colour is very important in my work, especially when using a limited palette. I wanted a dark, slightly mystical vibe to this drawing, so I went with purple – it’s also my favourite colour, so was the obvious choice! The Derwent Lightfast range has some gorgeous purples and violets, I also used white from the Caran d’Ache Pablo range for its opacity and the white Faber Castel Polychromos, as it’s a much firmer pencil and holds a point well, so is great for adding the finer details. Perhaps the most important colour is black – even though the paper is black, using a black pencil helps to add texture and can help cover any mistakes! It also comes into its own when drawing the moon, when mixed with the white to create all those lovely shapes and textures of the moon’s surface. As usual I used PanPastel to create the vibrant background.

Adding the PanPastel background

I’m terrible at naming my finished pieces – this time I went with “Timeless Soul” – which is taken from the song “Bark at the Moon” by the legendary Ozzy Osbourne! “Timeless Soul” is on display at Queen Street Gallery, Neath until 28th June. There’s also prints and cards available in my Folksy shop.

Final art prints are available on my Folksy shop

I have lots of ideas from more limited palette and dark series drawings, so watch this space, or even better sign up to my newsletter to see what comes next!