Be the Change ~ Inspired by a Sandra Caldwell image

Hi there! Today I have an art journal page starring one of Sandra Caldwell's many fabulous images. This one is called 121 Top of the World. I love this image and have had her partially coloured and sitting on my desk for a while so I decided to finish her and create a page around her.

I coloured her with a mix of Polychromos and Prismacolor pencils. She was then fussy cut above the chalk ledge and then tight around her until I reached the chalk ledge on the other side. I wanted the upper background behind her to be chalkboard and didn't want to colour it black so I replaced the top portion with black card stock and added the writing and numbers with white coloured pencil. This ensured that the blackboard was evenly coloured with no streaks and it also kept it flat black which the wax from the pencils doesn't allow.

The background began as a 6 x 8 inch rectangle of designer paper. I have so much DP  that is fairly plain on one side so I am making a conscious effort to use it in my art journal pages. Using Tree Branch Archival ink, text was added with a TH stamp, rings with Ellen Hutson's Bokeh Dots stamp, and dots with Darkroom Door's Polka Dots Texture stamp. Torn strips of book paper were adhered to the background and white gesso was spread over the text. Lengths of black and white washi tape were layered over the book paper. Jet Black Archival in was applied to one of the Darkroom Door Paint Splats stamps and it was added in several places. Tree Branch Archival ink was used again to stamp dots onto the book text to further help the pieces bland into the background. Ranger Texture Paste was scraped through TCW Tile Texture stencil to add a little white and some dimension.

A border was doodled with black pen around the edges and white paint pen filled in the circles. The sentiment was printed onto white card stock, cut apart, and the individual words were matted with black card stock. Foam tape was added to the backs of the words and the image. Black Big Brush pen was used to outline the page edges before a black mat was added to frame it.

Thanks for joining this little Top of the World gal and me today. To see more of Sandra's images, be sure to pop over to her Etsy shop, Babycakes Digis and Designs. There are wonderful images there for every occasion and sentiment.

Life is good; so is art.
Bonnie