Happy Monday everyone!
This week’s Diva challenge is a guest post by CZT Jen Crutchfield and encourages the use of color–something I can always use more of. Since I recently completed two commissioned pieces using color, I am sharing these as my challenge entry for this week.
This one was commissioned by my very own father for my parents’ 60th (!) wedding anniversary. He wrote the acrostic poem, I edited it a bit for grammar and flow (as she is a former English teacher) and did the artwork. I think he was pleased with the result! Definitely bold colors for me, all done using Derwent Inktense pencils. 
The second was a wedding gift commission via our friends at Mount. They were asked to prepare a special piece of art for a friend’s wedding gift and kindly asked me to work with a few photos of the couple’s dog, Dudley. I combined a few pictures into one concept and brought out the orange in the t-shirt for the splash of color. There’s also a little gray in the sunglasses (the lightest Copic) and a very faded pink in the heart highlighted by a brighter pink. I enjoyed playing with my Copics, but the Bristol paper is a little to absorbent for blending so I need to work on that another time.
And the final product, courtesy of Mount!
Update: Check out Dudley with his portrait! I think he approves.
Have a colorful week!
Oh, I like Duddly 🙂
The orange T-shirt is so cute 🙂
Thank you so much Ilse! He was fun to draw 🙂
Great! Duddly is my favorite))
Thanks, Victoria! I hope his owners like him too!
Dudley is lovely his orange t-shirt is cute 🙂
Thank you, Joanne! It’s amazing how scary adding color is for me, even when it’s just one color in a big space!
Nice pieces. I, a dog lover, particularly like Dudley!
Thanks so much, Jean. I love animals too…I did a pic of my dog Spike (a Frenchie) a while ago that actually sort of led to this one!
Being Dutch, I like the orange shirt even more 🙂 Nice piece of work!
🙂 Thanks, Ilse! I’m partial to orange (and purple).
Very cool. Did you draw Dudley free hand first? How did you add the color without covering over the black lines if you did those first? How big is the piece? And now, I will stop asking questions. 🙂
Hi Suzanne, yes, I drew him freehand (that was the hardest part!). I used a Copic marker to cover the midsection…no bleed, no covering. It’s 8.75×16 as per the spec of the guy doing the mount for it. So, incorporating his name filled some of the vertical space. And you can ask all the questions you want!
What did you use for the color in the midsection—I mean what type of pen or paint or whatever?
A Copic marker. They are expensive and amazingly awesome.
Very sweet and nice use of color with the portrait of Dudley. Very cute! Done very well! Sarah.
Thanks, Sarah!
I love the dogs!
Gorgeous pieces! Dudley looks like a real character and you’ve captured him well.
Dudley is super cute!
so beautiful
Dogs look super cool
Beautiful work! So cute portrait of Dudley!
Nice work. I remember seeing the piece that you did for your parents posted on FB. Looks like it was a hit based on his expression in the picture.
Dudley is gorgeous!
All of us like Dudley, the question is if Dudley likes it 🙂
I don’t know yet, but I sure hope so!!!
Cari, these are wonderful!! How wonderful that both parents are still alive at their 60th!! Wonderful dog too – glad you got these commissions!!
~ Diane Clancy
http://www.dianeclancy.com/blog/2015/07/my-diva-jen-crutchfield-2-color-challenge-entry
Wonderful! Dudley looks like a pretty cool character you did a great job with the commission 🙂
What whimsical work…that shirt on Dudley…to die for cute!
Beautifully done, both!